Demidov Studio London
Founded in 2018 by Andrei Biziorek, in collaboration with his teacher and the revivor of the Demidov Technique, Andrei Malaev-Babel, Demidov Studio London serves as both a teaching hub and a research center for the Demidov work. This inner technique acts as a practical key to reviving and advancing the rich tradition of Russian psychological theatre. Unlike modern trends that favour spectacle and special effects, the Demidov Technique prioritises the artist’s creative individuality. The studio offers a range of courses, including regular introductory intensives and longer courses that guide actors through the various stages of Demidov Curriculum.
Studio Founder and Director
Andrei Biziorek
Andrei is an acting teacher and director with over 25 years of experience across Poland, the UK, the US, and Australia. In Poland, he spent many years working as an actor with post-Grotowski companies including Gardzienice, Song of the Goat Theatre and Theatre ZAR, and also trained with Zygmunt Molik, a central figure in Jerzy Grotowski’s Laboratory Theatre.
Andrei has taught at many top drama schools in the UK and abroad, including RADA, East 15, and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, where he taught at BA and MA levels for more than eight years. Introduced to the Demidov Organic Acting Technique by Professor Andrei Malaev-Babel and training under his guidance, Andrei was certified to teach the Demidov work by the International Demidov Association and founded Demidov Studio London, the official UK chapter of the Association, in 2018. As a result of his international work teaching the technique, Andrei also founded a Demidov studio in Vienna, Austria, in 2024.
Andrei has also founded and directed several theatre companies, including Tribe Theatre Collective in London, whose production of Dostoyevsky’s ‘Crime and Punishment’ was created entirely using the Demidov Technique. He currently leads all classes at Demidov Studio London and directs the DSL LAB Ensemble, a research space for actors dedicated to exploring the technique in greater depth.
Head of the International Demidov Association
Professor Andrei Malaev-Babel
Professor Andrei Malaev-Babel is currently Director and Head of Acting at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training in Sarasota, Florida. Professor Malaev-Babel is responsible for reviving the Demidov Acting Technique, practically recreating the Demidov School at his Florida graduate acting studio from 2008, and has introduced the work to the US, UK, Europe, Russia, Brazil, and China. In 2016, he published (with Margarita Laskina) the first English-language collection of Demidov’s writings, entitled Nikolai Demidov: Becoming an Actor-Creator (Routledge). Amongst his many achievements, he was the Producing Artistic Director for the Stanislavsky Theatre Studio (STS), an award-winning company and conservatory in Washington, DC. There, he was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award as an Outstanding Director for his production of Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot. He is also the author and editor of books and journal articles on the masters of Russian Theatre: Nikolai Demidov, Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Michael Chekhov, and Alexandra Remizova. Professor Malaev-Babel is the founding certifying master teacher of the International Demidov Association. His reputation as one of the leading experts on Russian theatre and acting techniques has brought him special engagements and commissions from many institutions worldwide, such as Stanford University, The World Bank, Russian State Institute of Performing Arts (St Petersburg), the Young Vic Theatre, The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (UK), and the Shanghai Theatre Academy (China) just to name a few.
Engagement & Outreach
Kelsey Marlowe Jessup
Kelsey is an ex-pat actor, baker, poet, painter from Upstate New York. She moved to London after finishing her Music Theatre B.F.A. at The University at Buffalo and studied at the East 15 Acting School to discover global collaboration and enrich her creative process through the M.F.A. Acting International degree. Her mission is to spread light and wholehearted connection through sharing her creations and telling complex stories. Kelsey is beyond grateful for the generosity, faith, and family that the Demidov Studio London has given her, in addition to the artistic and personal liberation which the Demidov Technique cultivates. Check out her poetry, bakes, performance, and visual art on her Instagram accounts: @kelsey_m_j & @kmj_bakes.
Studio Manager & Communications
Yanouchka Wenger Sabbatini
Yanouchka is an actress and director based in Brighton, UK. Trained in Geneva, Paris (Cours Florent) and London (R.A.D.A), she works in the UK, France and Switzerland in English and in French. In recent years she has directed the UK first performance of Laurent Gaudé’s Médée Kali at the Cockpit Theatre in London and was guest director at the Brighton Scratch Night. She is also an art historian and a yoga teacher.
THE DSL LAB
The DSL LAB was created as a space for selected actors who are dedicated to exploring the technique of the Demidov School of Acting in greater depth over a longer period of time. The LAB works with actors who demonstrate a desire to be part of an ensemble that invests in an experiential exploration of what Demidov called the ‘culture’ of creative freedom, which is at the heart of the Demidov Technique; to learn to trust and follow their creative instincts, working to master Demidov’s core principles that lead to freedom, spontaneity and unpredictability, which are indispensable for the Art of Living onstage. The current Lab Ensemble members are Yanouchka Sabbatini and Kelsey Marlowe Jessup. The LAB is led by DSL Director Andrei Biziorek.
International Demidov Association
The International Demidov Association, headed by Professor Andrei Malaev-Babel, aims to unite artists and acting studios based in the Demidov School of Acting, pioneered by the Russian master teacher, Nikolai Demidov. It runs certification programs and courses and produces international workshops worldwide.
In 2020, the International Demidov Association and professor Andrei Malaev-Babel offered the first Teacher Certification Program, training teachers around the world who are capable of conveying the principles, values and unique pedagogy of the Demidov Organic Technique.
“This is a totally unique approach to cultivating actors, fundamentally different from other approaches. Having just emerged, this trend of theatre pedagogy that stands up for freedom and spontaneity in the actors’ creative process started developing rapidly. In its development, it took the form of an opposition, if not to say protest against the former principles of teaching and cultivating actors – principles that often bound young people creatively, made them rational, and turned many into truth-like presenters onstage, rather than artist-creators.”
- Nikolai Demidov.
