Medicine as Theatre, Theatre as Medicine

Responding to a need among health humanities scholars and clinicians to grapple with medicine’s performative aspects, this open access book argues there are deep connections between theatre and medicine which can guide transformative insights in both disciplines. This book contends that understanding the performative aspects of caregivers’ and patients’ roles can tangibly improve medical outcomes. It features chapters and interviews from a wide range of scholars in the medical, health humanities, theatre, performance, and disability studies, as well as key stakeholders such as doctors, medical educators, disability activists, home caregivers and patients. Moving beyond existing applications of the arts in narrative medicine and medical education, it is clear that patients’ and doctors’ performances cannot be understood in isolation, nor does interpretation happen in only one direction. Multiple theatre and performance genres are discussed, including spoken drama, opera, performance art, object performance, ritual, postdramatic theatre, forum theatre, and medical performances on film. By analyzing the ensemble drama of illness, by proposing enhancements to medicine’s “hidden curriculum” through roleplay, dramaturgy, and actor training in theatre and social performance theory, and by bringing patients and caregivers into the conversation, this book offers new research and real-world benefits. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

• Publication date: 11 June 2026
• Page count: 368
• Dimensions: Height 246 mm; Width 178 mm; Thickness 26 mm
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Format: Hardback
• ISBN-13: 9781350460720