play theme - the purest form of acting

Christine Schmalor

Workshop and individual coaching

22 + 29 Nov + 6 Dec 2025 from 12:00 – 14:30 (UTC+1)
plus 2 x 1 hour individual coaching to be arranged

There is a vacuum for actors in contemporary theatre: no situations, no characters, no plots, just words, words, words… texts, sounds, ideas created by authors, directors or collectively. Exciting! But…

• How do I manage to perform on stage as a human being? Perhaps even surrounded by visual, digital technology?
• What do my feelings and emotions signify in this context? What should they refer to? Which feelings? Which emotions? Is it all just in the head now, or what?
• Who is talking about the beauty of empty space here? How am I supposed to fill it? Who am I? Who or what am I supposed to embody? Does this question even make sense anymore if there are no longer any characters?

All these questions arise when we leave classical dramatic theatre behind and enter the experimental space, whatever form it may take, with thoughts and concepts at the highest and most complex level, but without a clear idea of how they can be conveyed beyond human characters in stories or situations.

Then it’s not a bad idea to start with the void. The void consists of 1000 possibilities…Nothingness leads us away from realism to an artificial world of ideas and themes.

• But how can themes be identified? How can they be opened up? How can they be played?

Only with a clear change in the actor’s position, based on a changed mindset. In this seminar, we will try out new techniques of text analysis that necessarily lead to completely different forms of acting. We allow ourselves to playfully open up philosophical dimensions; to shift the space of thought into larger dimensions and thus explore new dimensions in time and space.

This approach is just as important for a contemporary presentation of classical dramatic texts!

Holistic thinking, intertextuality, yes, the unlimited nature of complete freedom of thought lead to a new stage presence that enables one to ‘play theme’. This also involves giving the body back its full freedom and getting rid of psychological-realistic clichés.

Who dares to try? Welcome!

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In three joint sessions, I will introduce techniques for applied text analysis. You will immediately put them into practice with numerous exercises, thereby expanding your scope for thought and action. You will be given tasks to try out for yourselves and, ideally, apply to your own current projects. Two individual coaching sessions between the group sessions will be dedicated to your individual questions and needs.