Interview: Lewys Holt on Falling Down

Lewys Holt was 17 when the financial crash hit and admits they didn’t really understand what it meant. Looking back, they can see how much of their adult life it has shaped, and it feeds into Falling Down, their first solo in eight years, which previews at Chisenhale Dance Space on 23 October. Red Bus Londinium asked Holt about power, politicians who “made tough decisions” and finding the absurd in the awful.

Red Bus: You describe the show as returning to an old format with a lot of new questions. What did you want to ask this time that you couldn’t have asked eight years ago?

Lewys Holt: I think I’ve become a lot clearer with where I stand on issues over the last eight years. I think I was quite happy being vague about things before, being playful, loose and leaving a lot up to the audience to make sense of things. Now I feel that my internal compass is a lot stronger than it was so I’m really staking my claim about certain things. That playfulness and openness to interpretation is still there but I think I know where I stand al lot more.

Red Bus: ‘Falling Down’ mixes comedy, hedonistic movement, spoken text and live music. Where does the idea come from, and how do you decide when a moment should tip from funny into unsettling?

Lewys Holt: With this show I’m sort of exploring power dynamics, I think there’s always something really funny in the first instance when a performer sort of points out the power that they have just by virtue of being on the stage but I think the unsettling part comes from how I’m using this to illustrate power dynamics on an institutional level or a political level. I think in this show it tends to be the moment that you go from watching me doing something and you go from thinking ‘that’s cheeky’ to ‘ohhh that’s sort of what life is like’.

Red Bus: You talk about the funny and strange feeling of trying to hold it all together when the structures around you seem increasingly unreliable. Is there a particular moment, personal or public, that made you want to make a show about it?

Lewys Holt: I was 17 when the financial crash happened in 2008, and at the time I didn’t really understand what it meant. Looking back now, I realise how much of my adult life has been shaped by its consequences. Working as an artist in the UK, I’ve experienced how difficult it can be to sustain an artistic practice in an increasingly precarious funding environment. More broadly, I’ve watched trust in political institutions deteriorate, with consequences that pull in very different directions. On one hand, there’s been a growing recognition that we need to organise ourselves, build stronger communities and look after one another. On the other hand, we’ve seen the rise of the far right. I’m interested in that tension: how the same sense of uncertainty and disillusionment can lead people towards solidarity, or towards division and blame.

Red Bus: Is there a part of the process that has surprised you, or a moment in the room where something you expected to be serious turned out to be hilarious (or the other way round)?

Lewys Holt: There’s a moment in the piece where something I expected to be serious has become unexpectedly funny. I’m interested in the language politicians use to justify damaging decisions, and the phrase “I made tough decisions” feels so perfectly banal. It’s a way of making terrible things sound reasonable and necessary.

There’s something hilarious about taking that sort of impotent cruelty and delivering it with absolute desperation, as though shouting it loudly enough might make it convincing. The more seriously I commit to it, the more absurd it becomes. I’ve enjoyed discovering how something can be genuinely horrible and completely ridiculous at the same time. You don’t necessarily have to choose between the two.

Red Bus: This is a preview as part of a Pay What You Can double bill with Zoë Solomons at Chisenhale Dance Space, with a minimum of £8. What does it mean to you to share new work at an event priced to keep the door open, and what would you say to someone who has never been to a dance show before?

Lewys Holt: As someone who makes dance, I’m always conscious that people can feel like it’s not for them, or that they need to know something about contemporary dance to enjoy it. I’ve always wanted to make work that people can come to without needing any particular background or experience. Pay What You Can events are a great way of making that possible, particularly when the cost of seeing live performance can be a barrier.

If you’ve never been to a dance show before, I’d say just come along and see what happens. You don’t need to work out what everything means or worry about whether you’re watching it correctly. Falling Down has dancing, talking, music, humour and some stranger moments. Hopefully, there’ll be something in there that surprises you, makes you laugh or stays with you afterwards.

Images credit: Annabel Cohen

Booking Details

Falling Down by Lewys Holt (perfectly serviceable)
Venue: Chisenhale Dance Space, 64-84 Chisenhale Road, Bow, London E3 5QZ
Date and time: Friday 23 October 2026, 6.45pm to 9.00pm
Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes (double bill with Zoë Solomons’ Perception Questions, part of DIY Nights)
Price: Pay What You Can, minimum £8
Tickets: https://whatson.chisenhaledancespace.co.uk/events/chisenhaledancespace/2295524

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Interview: Lewys Holt on Falling Down

Booking Details

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