DR TAMUR TOHVER
“I like to use my knowledge to promote social developments. There is only a message of goodness, balance and the possibility of reaching all necessary.”
I am a performing arts researcher, director, lecturer, and consultant in personal and organisational leadership. More than 40 years of experience in the creative, production, and educational fields of theatre, radio, television, and film have increasingly led me, as a facilitator and leader of creative processes, to one central question: how can we sustain creativity, attention, self-confidence, connection with others, and the ability to act in challenging situations?
In my creative work, I draw on my method of Cultivating Directing, through which I create productions in Affective Space, a performing arts genre I have developed. Zero Zone Praxis, also developed through my practice and research, addresses fear, self-regulation, and the maintenance of psychophysical balance in creative and collaborative processes.
My approach brings together extensive practical experience, academic research, psychophysical training, and self-development practices. I work with both individuals and organisations, helping to develop clarity of attention and perception and strengthen the capacity to act effectively even in times of crisis.
A solution begins the moment you allow yourself to pause at the Zero Zone and, from there, discover a clearer way forward. Join me!
Meet TAMUR TOHVER
These are suitable areas for my cultivation sessions. Did not find what feels perfect or exciting? No worries, get in touch via the form- insight lies in the conversation! My mentoring and coaching combines different forms of study. As my approach is personal (even with corporate clients!) and a portfolio extensive, we will find the best-tailored solution that suits perfectly. As a result, my clients and students will meet an extraordinary landscape, where fresh, straight-from-the-field experience will land the suitable form of study. Since 1998– BBC, Corpore, ERR, Estonian Ministery of Culture, Telia, Innove, Finnish Broadcasting Corporation YLE, Estonian Energy, SEB Bank, Swedbank, Luminor Bank, LHV-Bank, European Broadcasting Union, Ragn-Sells, Intrum Justitia AS, Elisa, Latvian Radio- to name a few of satisfying projects!
Image Liis Tamra
- Leadership Development
- attention-based leadership
- leadership under pressure
- process-based decision environments design
- Executive Coaching
- Self-Cultivation Coaching
- artistic leadership
- Zero Zone Praxis
- Public Speech
Didn’t find anything here that feels quite right or gets you excited? Just get in touch through the contact form – clarity often emerges through conversation. Meet my partners here.
Performing Arts
After cultivating and leading Drama in Estonian Public Broadcasting Company for fifteen years; in 2008, Claresis Collective (former Polygon Theatre Company), which amalgamates professional theatre and drama school, was born. Alongside directing internationally for over thirty years, I have taught performing arts at UK, US and Estonian universities. I am the author of the book on audio art Silent Listening Is Easier (2003) and articles about performing arts, as well as being a playwright myself. International collaborations, welcome!
Recently, we established a new genre, Affective Space. This new performing arts expression integrates choreography, voice, text, and psychophysical performance into a shared affective field. Here, words are not primarily interpreted through psychological realism but through their relationship with movement, sound, attention, and spatial dynamics. The result is an intimate and intense experience that invites the audience into the protagonist’s perceptions, desires, fears, and lived experience. The foundations of this approach can be traced back to 2013 and have evolved through more than a decade of artistic exploration and practice.
I am open to invitations for collaborations. I also supervise and give workshops on the subjects, named in Academic Research section; please feel free to enquire more!
- Stage, TV and Radio Acting and Directing
- Actor/Director Teaching and Training
- Stage speech training
- Theatre, Film and Radio Production
- PRoject / Script development
- ZZ Praxis for Actor-director dyad
- stage fright and de-rolling
- Curriculum Development
Academic Research
I hold a PhD in Performing Arts from Manchester Metropolitan University (UK) and am trained as both a director and an actor. My research focuses on actor–director collaboration, actor training as self-cultivation, consciousness, and immediate transmission in theatre. My work develops actor–director training methodologies that address attention, affect, mediated spectatorship, and collaborative performance under pressure.
I am the developer of Zero Zone Praxis and Cultivating Directing – frameworks that investigate psychophysical continuity, perceptual coordination, and performing flow within rehearsal and production environments. My research has been published in Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, Ecumenica, and Stanislavsky Studies. I am also the developer of a new performing arts genre, Affective Space.
I have over 30 years of experience in teaching, directing, and curriculum development across higher education and professional training contexts in Europe and the United States. My teaching spans BA, MA, and postgraduate levels and brings together actor training, directing, and practice-based research. I have held academic teaching positions at institutions including the University of Central Florida, where I served as Visiting Professor and Graduate Faculty Scholar, Staffordshire University, the University of Huddersfield, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, and Tallinn University.
- practice as research across theatre, DANCE, screen, radio and intermedial performance environments
- Cultivating Directing
- performer perception, relational attention, and mediated presence
- Performing in State of Higher Consciousness
- Acoustic Sign in Audio Flow
- Academic Supervison
- International Collaborations Welcome!
Why be afraid of fear?
Throughout my more than 35 years as a creative entrepreneur and artistic leader, I have developed innovative approaches and worked with people of different ages, genders, nationalities, backgrounds, professions, incomes, and life experiences. Yet all of us need to make quick, practical decisions every day – while driving, taking an exam, dealing with responsibilities at work, checking our child’s grades, or simply navigating everyday life.
I have come to realise how important it is to trust our intuition when overcoming the hurdles life places in our way. We know that to run a marathon, we have to take the first step – but to finish it, we also have to take the last. Things are often more challenging than they first appear, particularly when it seems that we have no knowledge or experience to rely on.
Learning to believe in ourselves does not require climbing Everest. Nor do we need to dismantle the confidence we already have. Quite the opposite: to preserve it, while developing new and supportive values and skills, we need to find the strength to remain true to ourselves within the environments we inhabit. Those values and abilities are already within us – our task is to recognise them and bring them into view.
Perceptual bodymind practices, grounded in practical and academic knowledge as well as personal experience, have carried me through both exciting and challenging periods of my life. I am pleased to share the tip of that iceberg: a set of core techniques that I live by, practise, refine, and continue to develop every day. If we understand the body as our temple, keeping it balanced and well cared for becomes a foundation for an inspiring and fulfilling life.
So – join me! Why be afraid of Fear!
practices
- contemplative psychophysical training
- embodied awareness and breath practices
- self-cultivation
- dharma swasti
- clarification and perceptual distillation techniques
SUBTLE ACTOR-DIRECTOR DYAD
ZZ is a self-cultivation praxis that addresses ego-based conflicts and helps prevent manifestations of stage fright. It enables performing in a state of higher consciousness. The praxis moves beyond closed and conservative approaches to teaching and practising the performing arts.
Immediate Transmission
When I was 7, my mother took me to drama school. My first collaboration with professional actors was at 13 as the lead character in the TV drama New Boy. I hold PhD in performing arts and have directed over 90 productions with actors of different ages, genders, nationalities, positions, incomes, and life experiences.
For the past 13 years, we have been developing performing arts and executive leadership, doing various theatre courses and workshops abroad. I have experienced that communication and directing/guiding is only – and only – conveying a message from person to person via affective energy field. Here, we gain knowledge from daily exploring and practising to see if a method works for us. The vain have turned this open exchange into devoid showboating and labelled it a sophisticated art. Life is not that.
Today I wish to share my experience, as I know that technical skill is often not enough. In addition to specific exercises making theatre requires a method and a system. Some predispositions will be helpful. For example, learning may be more accessible if you are younger. But it would be best if you always had background knowledge, persistence, and the ability to communicate with others, to manage well in your calling and creative tasks.
Therefore, I look forward meeting you!
Purposeful persistence gives creative freedom for life.
Conferences
- Conference of Psychology 2026: Science I Practice, Tallinn Zoo, EST
- Leadership Conference Coaching 2026 TENSES, The Creative Hub, Tallinn, EST
- IFTR 2026 World Congress: What Theatre Does? Holding the Field: Zero Zone Praxis as Performance of Undoing. University of Melbourne, AUS
- AusAct 2026: Acting and Identity, 2026. From Fear to Flow, Charles Sturt University Sydney, AUS
- Joint Conference of the Estonian Association of Theatre Researchers and Critics and the Estonian Association of Scenographers: Scenography Redux, 2025. Directing Semiotics. Tallinn, EST
- The S Word: Stanislavsky and Contermporary Theatre Symposium 2025. Cultivating Active Analysis, University of Malta, MT
- Literature Day at Tagaranna: Madis Kõiv – Firmly Grounded in Nowhere and in the Here and Now. 2025, Tagaranna, Saaremaa, EST
- AusAct 2025 Conference: Transforming Safety & Identity in Training. Zero Zone Praxis Detects Miscommunication Instead of Conflict. Flinders University, Adelaide, AUS
- The S Word: Stanislavsky & Actor Training for the Screen Symposium 2024. Fragmented Radiation, University of East London, UK
- International Platform for Performer Training 2024 Congress. Zero Zone Praxis: Creative Cultivation. Tampere University, FIN
- The 6th International Dance and Somatic Practices Conference 2023, Zero Zone Praxis: Non-Dual Exchange. Coventry University, UK
- Leadership Conference Coaching 2023 PAUSE: Zero Zone in practice. Common practice with public facilitating. Business Day Conferences, Tallinn Estonia
- The S Word, Stanislavsky and Mindfulness, 2023: Zero Zone in Stanislavski’s teaching. London South Bank University, UK
- Peace of Mind Conference 2022: Zero Zone in practice. Common practice with public facilitating. Business Day Conferences, Tallinn Estonia
- IFTR 2021: Zero Zone as Creative Ceremony. The International Federation of Theatre Research. Presentation and workshop. Conference 2021 in Galway, Ireland
- AusAct 2020: Zero Zone. The Australian Actor Training Conference. Presentation and workshop. Charles Sturt University, Australia
- Wellbeing Practices 2019: Zero Point in Balance. Presentation and workshop. Business Day Conferences, Tallinn Estonia
- Soul Fest 2019: Why Be Afraid of Fear? Stage Fright and Inspiration Awakening. Presentation and workshop. Saaremaa, Estonia
Personal balance is essential to how we experience and navigate our everyday lives. I am therefore glad to share my understanding and experience of finding and maintaining that balance across different areas of life.
– Tamur Tohver
BIO
ORIGIN
Tamur grew up in an apartment house that fathers built with their own hands for their families. Throughout life, everything there was done jointly, together. He spent his summers on a small island swimming in the sea and his winters skiing in the wild forest. When Tamur was seven, his mother took him to theatre school. This soon became his second home, namely through the caring and nurturing shared space. The family lived on the edge of town, where wild animals were often seen on the streets, and Tamur attended a school that had a wooden staircase and an attic. He lived in a capital city, but also like in a village. This simplicity has never left him, even though he made his professional acting debut at thirteen as the lead in the TV drama New Boy. At eighteen, Tamur Tohver had the lead role in his debut radio drama. He has spent well over half his life in rehearsal studios, acting in front of the camera or on stage, or behind the scenes holding his breath and hoping the actors do well in the show he has directed. For the audience to breathe in unison with the stage. Tamur has brought to you all the stories that matter to him, with more than five hundred actors of different gender, nationality, race, age, incomes, levels of preparation, and fame. This journey is far from being finished! Tamur has directed extensive project work and coached executive self-development. Today, Tamur Tohver is halfway through his PhD at Manchester Metropolitan University on the actor-director interrelationship and stage fright that engenders conflict and is detrimental to creativity, artistic results and health. Tamur has over eighty theatre productions in his portfolio and his second book about directing – theatre directing (the first was about directing radio drama) – is to be published soon. Never … Not ever has he placed himself at the centre of all that. Always … Not always has he known at the outset exactly why he does things in a particular way – while doing those specific things. But he has always known that it all comes back to us and takes us forward. Thank you to you–who have been doing those things with Tamur!
Space
Currently, located in England, Tamur Tohver divides his activities between Europe, the United Kingdom, India and the United States. Before this, he gathered experience in Russia and Scandinavia. We are always the same – in our differences. We love, we hope, we believe. The idea counts, the message supports, people listen more out there, and it’s always lovely to return. What is better? We need to be understood and nurtured. To be heard. Tamur says that he has never come across a collective who were entirely pessimistic right from the outset of whatever they set out to do. People do not emigrate because of economic or climate reasons; they seek refuge to get away from other people. Both externally and internally. Away from those who set or enforce conditions on them. Tamur recommends: breathe! Let go, notice, support, encourage! Do not fear being absorbed in your activity – everything passes and comes to you. Tamur is uniting two great cultures, and through this, the ways of thinking from the East and the West. You, too, have your super-objective. You can discuss it further when you meet – in the theatre or consultation, for example. Tamur says that he learns from everyone and everything. What is broader than that, is to maintain Peace. On every level.
Peace
Tamur: So how is it here? It is just as you like it to be. Oriental tradition has two self-explanatory phenomena. These are the Teacher and the Miracle. The first does not give you the answers. Why? Because you may not accept them and that you can’t develop. The Teacher enables you to reach your insights. Through this, each discovery will be your personal Truth, dear and precious in its absoluteness. Miracle – that’s realisation. Each flash creates light and is your beacon. By abandoning external judgements, your view becomes more explicit. Time increases; sight, sense and understanding are sharpened. Individual decision-making becomes more flexible. The Miracle melts ignorance. This begins to emanate from you and gather like-minded people. Quality is always inner. Until the next Miracle occurs – you change. As everything inevitably changes in the human world, this is not only unavoidable but also joyfully welcome. However frightening the outlook may be today – it will pass. However desirable general wellbeing may be – this too will, unfortunately, pass. Only the absolute Truth is and remains – this, as you are yourself. What is the relationship between the Teacher and the Miracle? One leads to the other. Sometimes could the Miracles be scary or hard to recognise. Therefore, each enriched achievement gradually shapes into the perfect Miracle and each performance into the Absolute that you can believe in. It is an internally perceptible value, rising from self. And here, in turn, there is no longer any contradiction – you represent what you speak. Thus, you are both the message and its bearer.
All discovered on the field will be converted into the class. All developed in the class improve the field.