Acting in Physical Theatre: 26 Artists, 14 Countries, One Studio in Berlin

From 17 to 21 August 2026, NIPAI welcomed 26 performing arts practitioners from 14 countries to Berlin for the international workshop Acting in Physical Theatre.

Participants came from Australia, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

For five days, those different backgrounds met in the same studio.

The workshop was led by Sergei Ostrenko and Gennadiy Ostrenko and included practical work with Meyerhold Biomechanics, Chekhov Psychological Gesture, Stanislavsky’s approach to physical action, ensemble practice, movement, improvisation, and psychophysical performance.

But one of the strongest parts of this particular edition was the work with monologues.

A monologue without forcing emotion

The group explored how an actor can learn and structure a monologue in a relatively short period of time and, at the same time, give it emotional depth and theatrical precision.

The work focused on a technique developed by Sergei and Gennadiy Ostrenko.

Instead of asking the actor to force or reproduce an emotional state, the technique works through a structured physical and psychophysical process. The aim is for the audience to perceive the weight, meaning, and emotional depth of the monologue while the performer remains focused on concrete actions rather than attempting to “produce” emotion directly.

For many participants, this became one of the central discoveries of the week.

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The method was developed primarily for theatre practice, but the principles can also be adapted by performers for self-tapes, online auditions, casting situations, and work in front of the camera.

This is important because professional actors today often move between very different conditions: a rehearsal studio, a theatre stage, a casting room, a phone camera, or a film set. A practical method becomes useful when the performer understands its principles well enough to adapt it rather than simply repeat an exercise.

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What happens when 14 countries enter one rehearsal room during international physical theatre workshop

The international composition of the group was not a decorative detail.

Every participant arrived with a different professional history, training background, cultural context, and understanding of performance. During the week, these approaches were tested against one another through physical work.

And alongside the training, another process appeared naturally: people began to connect.

Participants formed friendships, exchanged professional contacts, and continued conversations about possible future projects after the workshop ended.

For us, this is one of the most valuable consequences of an international studio process. A workshop may last five days, but the relationships, questions, exercises, and methods often continue much longer.

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NIPAI has now been working in international performing arts education for 26 years.

Across that time, more than one hundred educational and artistic projects have passed through the Institute. It is difficult to calculate what that means only in numbers.

There are now several generations of artists who have entered these rehearsal rooms, trained through these methods, returned to their own countries and professional contexts, and continued the work in performances, teaching, directing, choreography, and new collaborations.

Some of them are now training other artists. Some are leading ensembles. Some are creating their own methods and projects. This continuity is an important part of why NIPAI exists.

We see performing arts training not as a closed event, but as part of a longer exchange between artists, teachers, rehearsal rooms, and generations. A method changes when another practitioner takes it into their own work. A workshop continues when something discovered in Berlin appears later in another rehearsal room somewhere else in the world.

It is a privilege to be part of that process. And it is equally important that each new participant becomes part of it as well.

Those who would like to continue exploring NIPAI’s work can read more about the Institute’s professional programmes and upcoming international workshops in Berlin.