An all-singing, all-dancing celebration of ordinary life and death. Single mum Emma confronts the highs and lows of life with a cancer diagnosis; that of her son and of the real people she encounters in the daily hospital grind. Groundbreaking performance artist Bryony Kimmings creates fearless theatre to provoke social change, looking behind the poster campaigns and pink ribbons at the experience of serious illness.

Unexpected, quirky and provocative, BALL & Other Funny Stories About Cancer is a unique collection of performances about illness and the changing body over time. Documenting a trilogy of Brian Lobel's monologue performances from 2001-2011, this collection challenges the inspirational stories of survivors and martyrs that have come before, infusing the 'cancer story' with an urgency and humour which is sometimes inappropriate, often salacious and always, above all else, honest and open. Published together for the first time, this collection of performances goes beyond the chemotherapy to include reflections on politics, sexuality and gender, providing cancer - and cancer narratives - with a much-deserved kick in the ball(s).

This incisive and thoughtful new title in the Theatre And series confronts the difficult relationship between theatre and cancer. It explores representations of cancer in fictional worlds and autobiographical performances while also highlighting work that reimagines and reinvigorates the genre of 'Cancer Performance'. Challenging conventional narratives which rely on the binary of tragedy versus survival, Brian Lobel argues for an alternative approach to understanding cancer in relation to theatre. Concise yet thought-provoking, this book is ideal for undergraduate and postgraduate students of theatre, performance and disability studies.