London Demidov Studio

The London Demidov Studio was founded by Andrei Biziorek in 2018, in collaboration with Russian acting teacher and director Andrei Malaev-Babel. The studio is dedicated to exploring the work of little-known Russian acting pedagogue and director, Nikolai Demidov, who pioneered non-analytical, organic techniques that enable actors to access and facilitate their intuitive process, as well as the character. The Demidov Organic Acting Technique is rooted in the culture of creative freedom, putting actors in touch with their own creative individuality by teaching them to recognize and follow their artistic instincts.

Stanislavski’s close collaborator for 30 years, Demidov went on to disagree with Stanislavski on the use of analysis. Demidov’s School approaches an actor’s process as an indivisible flow of subconscious creativity – from the first steps of training. As founding director of the Moscow Art Theatre’s School, and one of the three original teachers of the Stanislavski System, Demidov uncovered the professional secrets of the great tragedians, such as Eleonora Duse, Tommaso Salvini and Ira Aldridge.

Improvisational text etudes, at the heart of the technique, stimulate spontaneity and emotional richness in actors, instigating the free flow of subconscious creativity. Some of the basic principles, or cultures, of the technique include freedom, emptiness and creative calm. The Demidov technique is aimed at developing independent actor-creators, capable of generating their own work, and serving as an equal collaborator to the director.

Workshops are frequently offered by the studio for those interested in the technique.