JANUARY 17 – 23, 2026
A 7-day energetic immersion for performing artists
@TROUBLEYN/ LABORATORIUM
Pastorijstraat 23, 2060 Antwerp, Belgium
8 hours / day - 9 am > 6 pm
This workshop is a profound, holistic journey for: professional performers, theater and film actors, dancers, musicians, directors, choreographers.
It demands courage, honesty, and a willingness to risk. You will refine your technique while diving into the emotional, spiritual, and physical dimensions of your craft.
FILMED SCENE PROVIDED!
Participants will receive film scenes as single finished video files (no edits included) with full permission to use the footage for showreels, auditions, agent submissions, and other professional needs. The aim is simply to provide useful, professional-looking material that participants can confidently take away and put to practical use.
Philosophy
We work from the understanding that you are more than your technique. You are a spirit, a body, and a mind—your creative act demands the full engagement of all three. The stage becomes sacred ground for transformation.
This workshop requires presence, vulnerability, and a space free of judgment.
Much like clay needs to be softened to be shaped, the actor must be relaxed, receptive, and ready to play.
You are invited to bring all of yourself: your technique, your doubts, your imagination, your truth. This is not just performance. This is transformation.
Preparation Methods
Yoga, dance, breath work, meditation to nurture a joyful state of mind.
Dreamwork, automatic writing, mandala creation, and inner child exploration to open subconscious channels.
Practices of Acting
These practices open the gateway to three energetic axes of acting :
> Inner Relaxation & Memory Revival (Method Acting): we tap into stored emotional memories and release blockages that hinder truthful performance. Memory and visualization are the reservoirs of emotional truth, relaxation is the gateway.
> Truthful Connection with your partner (Meisner Technique): through listening, repetition and responsiveness you uncover the truth born in interaction. Acting is no longer acting, it becomes presence in relation.
> Character Invention & the Inner Child (Stanislavski): through visualization, imagination, physicality, costume, voice and psychology you create a fully integrated persona. This is the domain of play, imagination and artistic freedom.
The goal is to transcend technique.
You will learn:
> to harness discipline and let go with ease
> to move between intention and spontaneity
> to build an internal structure that supports surrender on stage.
Rhythm of the Day
9am - 1pm: Somatic and breath practices, creative exploration
2pm - 6pm: Group or duo rehearsals ; on camera scene work and feedback
About Richard Sammel
German film and theater actor and teacher with over four decades of international experience. He has performed in 150+ movies and tv productions all over the world, including The Strain (Guillermo del Toro), Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino), Casino Royale (James Bond), Taxi (Luc Besson), La vita e bella (Roberto Begnini). Richards' latest projects include the acclaimed Star Wars series Andor 2 and the Canal+ series 'A Better Place'.
Richard speaks 4 languages and is a certified drama school and yoga teacher. His teachings are based on physical presence, emotional depth, energy flow state activation and radical honesty.
Awards:
>Best Cast Ensemble of the decades in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (2009)
>Screen Actors Guild Awards
>In 2012, “Best Actor” at the Syracuse International Film Festival for his performance in Ruggero Dipaola’s Apartment in Athens
>Nominated for the Saturn Awards (2015) for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Thomas Eichhorst’ in the hit FX series, The Strain.
During the workshop, participants will also have the opportunity to work with:
Daniela Tran (Psychoanalyst - Lucid dreams)
Daniela Tran accompanies the workshop as a psychoanalyst with more than twenty years of experience in lucid-dream practice (rêve éveillé libre) and a Jungian approach. Her work brings a deep understanding of the subconscious, offering a shared and reflective space in which personal material can surface safely without turning the process into therapy. She helps maintain the fine balance between personal openness and artistic creation, ensuring that what emerges can be transformed into meaningful work rather than psychological exploration alone. Her presence supports the participants in broadening their inner perspectives while remaining grounded in the artistic journey.
Jutta Sammel (Photographer / Camera Operator)
Jutta Sammel brings a focused on-camera dimension to the workshop. With her background as a photographer, camera operator, and editor, her involvement helps create ideal and secure working conditions that encourage participants to fully engage in the process. The presence of the camera invites them not to act, but to work on presence. Each participant will have the opportunity to receive a filmed scene as both a professional tool and a documentation of their work.
Photo Mattias Bothor © SENS Agence
