Phrases
Apples Become Chestnuts
Phrases
by Lewys Holt
Perfectly Serviceable Productions at The Hen and Chickens Theatre, Highbury until 13th August
Review by Heather Moulson
With Arsenal fans en masse downstairs, we embrace the calmness of a small theatre. Described as a one-man dance and spoken word performer, Lewys Holt moves supplely against a minimal slideshow. Tormenting slogans appear above him: ‘Did I leave the oven on?’ … that well-known paranoiac situation and its desperate logic worked well. After a witty story, the old chestnut, ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’ is reflected upon, before becoming an interactive discussion that brought hilarious results. Then Holt excels with some captivating dance movements.
This eclectic performance of Phrases, contained very eccentric and identifiable material embodied in skilled movement. However, the voiceover of a one-sided conversation was too long and the pace needed to pick up in places. Bach’s music was too loud, and the shouting against it became jarring. Nevertheless, this quirky production was full of intelligent, uniquely sharp wit, and despite the ending verging on diffident, I recommend we look out for more of Lewys Holt and his talent.
Lewys Holt is a Leeds based dance artist and choreographer, whose work embraces comedy and devised theatre, created with technical assistance was from Eleanor Sikorski by his dance-theatre company Perfectly Serviceable Productions. Phrases is his current show, and hopefully we’ll see more of him in the future. He can only go from strength to strength.
Heather Moulson, August 2023
Photography by Liam Keown and Matthew Cawrey
Mark Aspen 