This research project explores the concept of live-fornemmelse (live-sensation or live-feeling) in the intersection between dramatic text, directing, and acting within performing arts. The project investigates how the aesthetic space of the actor can be expanded to create performances that allow for unpredictability, risk, and fallibility — qualities that enhance the audience's perception of immediacy and presence. Drawing inspiration from Erika Fischer-Lichte's theory of the autopoietic feedback loop and Graham Harman's notion of potentiality, the project challenges understandings of theatre as a fixed, autonomous work of art.

Through three distinct productions — The Count of Monte Cristo, Sand Flight, and a third project tba - exploring contemporary and experimental text — the project develops and tests methods that integrate physical actions, improvisation, and text-based work to foster a heightened sense of presence on stage. Each production explores different theatrical formats, ranging from large-scale institutional theatre with pre-recorded film material, to site-specific performance, allowing for a nuanced investigation of how live-sensation can emerge under varying aesthetic and contextual conditions.

The artistic research engages with both practical and theoretical questions: How can the actor's aesthetic space be expanded to maintain potentiality throughout the performance? How can methods for working with text as a result of physical actions enhance the sense of immediacy? What strategies enable the actor to remain in genuine dialogue with fellow performers, the audience, and the set environment?

By developing tools that amplify the aesthetic space of the actor and promote live-sensation, the project aims to contribute to the broader discourse on acting methodologies, artistic research, and theatre education. The outcomes of the project will be disseminated through performances, written reflections, and pedagogical exchange, offering insights into how theatre can generate transformative experiences in dialogue with an unpredictable world.

Jonas Corell Petersen started his PhD at KHiO, theater department 2024. He is a Danish director and playwright. He holds an MA in directing.

He has staged performances in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Denmark. He was resident director at the National Theatre in Oslo (2015-2018). 2016/17 and 2020/21, he was resident playwright at National center for new playwriting.

His: The Sorrows of Young Werther (2010), won the European Fast Forward Award. He received the Hedda Award for Eg-Ik-EG-ICH (2012), Det Norske Teatre/Toneelmakerij, The Notebook (2017) Staatstheater Stuttgart, Così fan tutte (2017), Norwegian National Opera. Winterreise by Elfriede Jelinek, Det Norske Teatret (2021), The Sandman, Aarhus Teater (2022) and Billy the Kid's Collected Works, the National Theatre (2023) and The Count of Monte Cristo (2025), Kilden. Sand Flight (with Ingri Fiksdal) will premiere in Toronto 12^th of June at The Bentway.

Stagings of his own writings include: Zoo, Black Box Teater (2013) Chewing on the Bones of Time, National Theatre (2015), State (with Ingri Fiksdal), Steirischer Herbst Festival (2016), ISLAND, the National Theatre (2017), KNOCHEN, Staatstheater Cottbus (2020), Missing Community, the National Theatre (2018), Seeking Community, Kilden (2022), New Land (2022) Teater Innlandet, Love, Trøndelag Teater (2024).