Gavin Thatcher

Gavin Thatcher is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Arts and Humanities at Brunel University London, within the College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences. He is a practitioner-scholar with a multidisciplinary career spanning academia, theatre, and sports coaching. His work integrates teaching, research, and artistic practice in innovative ways.

His research interests include:

• Performance and rehearsal studies
• Ensemble and collective creativity
• Embodiment and vocal physicality
• Intersections between theatre and sports (particularly football)
• Leadership in artistic and non-artistic ensembles
• Practice-as-research methodologies

His publications, co-authored primarily with Daniel Galbreath, explore how movement theatre can inform choral conducting, the integration of voice and body in training, and interactive singing practices. These works reflect a consistent focus on the physical, collaborative, and political dimensions of performance training. His research extends beyond the studio into healthcare, emergency response, and sports contexts.

As a theatre maker, he developed works such as Grey Matter and The Prisoner's Cinema, supported by Birmingham Repertory Theatre and MAC Birmingham, and participated in the Foundry Programme under mentorship from Alexander Zeldin and others. He also assisted French director Mohamed El Khatib in a project involving football supporters, linking his dual interests in performance and sport.

He has taught at several UK institutions, including Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, De Montfort University, and the University of Wolverhampton, focusing on performer training, ensemble performance, theatre making, and performance theory.

Currently, he is developing an edited book on performance and football, further bridging his artistic and scholarly interests. His ORCID is 0009-0003-7702-502X.