Dr Ian Farnell
Teaching Fellow in Theatre and Performance
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Office: FAB1.43
I am an award-winning teacher leading on modules across the Theatre and Performance Studies undergraduate programme.
As a member of the Warwick community, I am passionate about protecting and preserving the natural world around us. I work in collaboration with the university's sustainability team to promote the importance of nature to our students, and I am working with colleagues from across multiple disciplines on climate change-related projects. I am also an avid (if entirely average) bird photographer and can occasionally be found in the greener parts of campus, squinting upwards.
Beyond this, much of my research has been dedicated to the intersection between theatre and science fiction. Across the twenty-first century, there have been multiple plays that have drawn on science-fictional imagery and I am especially interested in how these productions are using the genre to imaginatively intervene on the social and political anxieties of the contemporary moment. More broadly, I am interested in the relationship between theatre, performance and genres which fall under the label of “the fantastic”, including fantasy, horror, the gothic, folklore, and other non-realist popular forms.
Finally, having spent over a decade working in retail as a way of supporting my studies, I am interested in how customer service can be understood through the lens of performance.
Publications
Monographs and edited collections
2025: Science Fiction and Contemporary British TheatreLink opens in a new window. London: Bloomsbury
Forthcoming: Theatre, Performance and the Fantastic Vol. 1: Stages and Scripts. London: Bloomsbury
Forthcoming: Theatre, Performance and the Fantastic Vol. 2: Practices and Politics. London: Bloomsbury
Articles
2021: 'Theatre, Science Fiction, and Care Robots: Embodying Contemporary Experiences of Care'. Theatre Journal 73 (3): pp.373-389.
2020: ‘Science, Science Fiction, and Nick Payne’s Elegy: A Conceptual Third Way’. Studies in Theatre and Performance 40 (2): pp. 206-223.
2019: ‘Science Fiction and the Theatre of Alistair McDowall’. Contemporary Theatre Review 29 (2): 121-137.
2019: ‘In space, no one can hear you say you didn’t “get” it: theatre, science fiction, and genre snobbery’. Contemporary Theatre Review Interventions July 2019.
2017: ‘Utopian dreams, dystopian realities in Lucy Kirkwood and Anne Washburn’. Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction 46 (128): 38-47
Book chapters
2025: 'Contemporary Theatre and Medical Science Fiction'. The Edinburgh Companion to Science Fiction and the Medical Humanities, ed. Gavin Miller, Anna McFarlane and Donna McCormack. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
2019: ‘Alistair McDowall’s X: Science Fiction Theatre’. Sci-Fi: A Companion, ed. Jack Fennell. 2019. Oxford: Peter Lang Publishing
Reviews
2021: 'Things are Heating Up: Reflections on Utopia, Dystopia and Climate Change, the 20th International Conference of the Utopian Studies Society, Europe'. Exchanges: The Interdisciplinary Research Journal 8 (2): 1-7.
2019: ‘A manual for near-future parenting: Thomas Eccleshare’s Instructions for Correct Assembly’. Fantastika 3 (1): 149-152
2017: ‘Mars: After the Crisis review’. Fantastika Journal 1 (2): 177-179
Teaching
Undergraduate modules 2024/25
Theatre and Performance in Context
Study Skills for Theatre and Performance
Wildwork: Theatre, Performance and the Natural World
Playwriting
Events and engagement
2025: Organiser, Wild Warwick
2024: Core team member, Museum of Climate Stories
2023: Conference organiser, Performing the Fantastic in Contemporary Culture, University of Warwick
2019: Organiser and panel chair, “Staging the future”, British Science Festival
Awards
2025: £2000 research grant, Institute of Advanced Study (Wild Warwick)
2024: Highly Commended, Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence
2023: £1280 research grant, Institute of Advanced Study (Performing Customer Service)
2023: Associate Fellowship, Institute of Advanced Study
2022: Winner, Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence
2021: Finalist, Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence
2020: Associate Fellowship, Advance HE