Fitzwilliam College
Storey’s Way
Cambridge
CB3 0DG
Isaias Fanlo teaches Modern and Contemporary Iberian Cultures at the University of Cambridge. His work on Iberian cultures, scenic arts and queer theory has been published in scholarly magazines, as well as in books like De vidas y virus (2019), Entre el cuarto oscuro y la utopía queer (2023) and Daring Adaptations, Creative Failures, and Experimental Performances in Iberian Theater (2023). He also contributes to generalist media, where he writes about scenic arts, culture and activism. His monograph El llibre rosa (2004) was a pioneer work on gender and sexuality in Catalonia.
His current research explores contemporary theatrical and performative events in Spain from a queer gaze situated in the intersections of race, class, citizenship, and HIV status, among others. In his forthcoming monograph, he develops the notion of “Toponormativity”, addressing queer performative strategies of resistance against gentrification and normative uses of urban spaces, tackles the archives to approach the performances of HIV/AIDS through silences and absences, discusses the ethical implications of performing sex onstage, and ponders about the nuances of drag as performance art that challenges ideas regarding gender, community, and national discourses in Spain.
Parallel to his academic trajectory, Isaias Fanlo has developed a career as a cultural manager in the scenic arts. He has been editor, dramaturgist and creator of contents for Barcelona’s Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, artistic advisor for Barcelona’s Teatre Lliure, and literary advisor for different projects in Barcelona and Chicago. He founded Terrats en Cultura, Barcelona’s awarded rooftop scenic arts festival, which is currently celebrating its tenth anniversary and is an active member of the European Creative Rooftop Network.
- Spanish literatures and cultures (from the nineteenth century to the present)
- Catalan literatures and cultures (from the nineteenth century to the present)
- Theatre and performance studies
- Iberian cinema
- Queer theory
- Race, politics and culture
- Colonial and postcolonial intersections
- Narratives of the exile
Dr Fanlo welcomes inquiries from potential MPhil and PhD students with research interests relevant to his interests.
Monographs
El llibre rosa de gais i lesbianes. Barcelona, Columna Edicions, 2004.
Selected articles and book chapters
“Rewriting Race: The Angels in America Scandal and New Representations of Blackness in Contemporary Catalan Drama.” María Chouza; Esther Fernández; Jonathan Thacker, eds. The Unsafe Stage: Daring Adaptations, Creative Failures and Experimental Performances in Iberian and Transnational Contexts. Liverpool University Press, 2023.
“Queer Dignity. Intersections of Testimonial Queerness in Theatre, Performance, and the Visual Arts.” Sara Jones; Roger Woods, eds. The Palgrave Handbook of Testimony and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, 2023.
“Cuartos oscuros, barras de bar, pistas de baile y otras utopías queer en el teatro español contemporáneo.” Paola Bellomi; Claudio Castro Filho, eds. Entre el cuarto oscuro y la utopía queer: sexualidades no normativas en el teatro español contemporáneo. Peter Lang, 2023.
“Escritura, territorialización y deseo. ‘Nit a la plaça de Catalunya’, de Biel Mesquida.” Rafael M. Mérida, ed., Di/versos. Poesía queer autobiográfica. Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, 2023.
“El teatro palpable: estrategias queer de resistencia contra la toponormatividad.” Acotaciones. Investigación y creación teatral, 3: 50 (2023). https://bit.ly/3s8MBMM
“La escritura entre fantasmas. Notas sobre la poesía queer de Jaime Manrique.” Jaime Manrique, Amor de hombre. Poesía queer 1972-2022. Seix Barral, 2023.
“El teatro del postolvido: No parlis amb estranys, de Helena Tornero.” Talía. Revista de estudios escénicos, 4 (2022). https://bit.ly/3SmctMK
“Tot desestabilitzant la toponormativitat: una aproximació a algunes iniciatives de resistència queer en l’escena catalana contemporània.” Margalida Pons, ed. Mirades afectives sobre la cultura catalana contemporània. Biblioteca di Rassegna Iberistica, 2023.
“Jaime Gil de Biedma”, “Antonio Roig Rosselló”, “Andrés Caicedo”, “Jaime Manrique”, “David Vilaseca.” Alfredo Martínez Expósito, ed. La vida iba en serio: autobiografías hispánicas de la diversidad sexual. Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, 2022.
“Apunts per a repensar el teatre en temps de pandèmia.” (Pausa.) Quaderns de teatre contemporani, 42 (2020). https://bit.ly/3EVN4GB
“Supervivència i utopia en el teatre queer i trans.” Marc Rosich, Teatre trans (i altres textos no normatius). Comanegra, 2020.
“Notes sobre el teatre de Guillem Clua.” Guillem Clua, Teatre reunit (2002-2019). Arola edicions, 2020.
“Ética de lo obsceno: ideas en torno a la gentrificación del sida en las artes escénicas.” Rafael Mérida, ed. De vidas y virus: VIH/sida en las culturas hispánicas. Icaria, 2019.
“Malaltia, frivolitat, responsabilitat i transgressió: un diàleg (queer) amb Guillem Clua.” (Pausa.) Quaderns de teatre contemporani, 40 (2018). https://bit.ly/3VKJhSr
“Els invisibles i els silenciats: Algunes reflexions epistolars sobre qüestions racials i queer en el teatre català.” (Pausa.) Quaderns de teatre contemporani, 40 (2018). Co-written with Jeffrey K. Coleman. https://bit.ly/3MO62AO
Selected translations
Jaime Manrique. “El día que Carmen Maura me besó.” El territorio de lo ausente: seis voces migrantes del Caribe Colombiano. Mackandal, 2022, p. 115-128. (Short Story)
Jaime Manrique, Si me ves por el camino. Seix Barral, 2021. (Novel)
Martin Sherman, Bent, 2014. Performed in Havana, Cuba, in June 2014. (Play)
George Bernard Shaw, “La casa dels cors trencats i Horseback Hall”, in La casa dels cors trencats. Barcelona: Proa, 2009. pp. 31-81. (Essay)
Architectures, TV series from Arte Channel. C33, Televisió de Catalunya, 2006.
Vladimir Nabokov, “Pròleg”, in Lev Tolstoi, La mort d’Ivan Ilitx / La sonata a Kreutzer. Barcelona, Destino, 2004. pp. 11-25. (Essay)
John Dos Passos, “Un apunt sobre Fitzgerald”, in Francis Scott Fitzgerald, En aquest costat del paradís. Barcelona: Destino, 2003. pp. 9-17. (Essay)
G. K. Chesterton, “Pròleg”, in Charles Dickens, David Copperfield. Barcelona, Destino, 2003. pp. 11-22. (Essay)
