Located stories: The place of practice-led research

When Blaise Pascal talks about 'here rather there, now rather than then' he is talking about place. His fright and amazement I take to be an expression of awe at actually being in place. His fright and amazement I take to be an expression of awe at actually being in place marked by his physical presence in a moment of time, a place that his body brings into being. It could be said that his body, inserted into time and space, creates place. Spurred by Pascal's wonder at the immensity of the universe and the fragile, responsible position he occupies within it, my PhD offers a proposition about body, place and theatre which is positioned in the here and now. I propose that theatre makes place with the body, and further, that we can only hope to know ourselves as human beings in place. Conversely, I suggest that the place we create and inhabit tells us something about ourselves. This relationship between body, place and theatre provides the inspirational frame for my project, which poses the question: if theatre makes place with the body, what kind of place are contemporary theatre makers making of Australia