DV8 Physical Theatre's show at West Yorkshire Playhouse asks frank questions about sex and love

One of those men was John, and what emerged was a story that is at once extraordinary and touching, as told in Newson's verbatim dance-theatre piece, on tour at the West Yorkshire Playhouse tonight and tomorrow.

Years of crime, drug use and struggling to survive lead John on a search where his life converges with others in an unexpected place, unknown by most, in a DV8 performance conceived and directed by Newson that combines real-life stories with movement and spoken word.

Since Newson formed DV8 Physical Theatre in 1986, the London company has produced 19 dance pieces and four films for television, but only latterly has Newson introduced language into the works, first for 2009's To Be Straight With You, then 2012's Can We Talk About This? and now John.

"One of the reasons we have started using text is that when you're addressing complex social issues, or talking about religion, which is based in text, how do you do that just in dance?" says Newson.

"My background is in psychology and I worked as a therapist for a short time before I decided I wanted to work in theatre and those skills now come into play in my work. So I'm sympathetic to those in the audience who come to a dance show and don't understand what they're watching, which is why I don't watch dance any more."

Nevertheless, he does believe in the power of the body to speak on stage but is not tied to the credo of dance requiring beautiful young bodies. Instead he advertised for men between the ages of 40 and 80 to audition for John.

"I believe we operate as human beings as a combination of movement and words, and I want people on stage to have a connection to the world," he says.

DV8 performers Andi Zhuma and Ian Garside. Picture: Kris Rozental

For those reasons, conventional dance body types would not be right for the performance. "Instead, as soon as you start training people to a degree, they will get fit, even in their mid 50s," he says.

"We have a cast of eight men and two women for John and we already had eight men in place when we auditioned 800 more, but we were still short of one man for the show after that. What's ironic is you have people who spend their lives in dance and they have wonderful dance skills, but the way they use body language has been driven out of them.

"If you've got a genre, whether it's ballet, musical theatre, whatever it is, then you immediately work in that idiom, whereas DV8 have to struggle to find the right idiom for each show."

Newson takes five months to make a new piece. "So when I was asked to direct a piece of theatre in five weeks, I couldn't do it," he says. "There's a fine balance between giving people sweets at the theatre or giving them something more nutritional that may take longer to digest. So you don't get a sugar rush with DV8 but something more sustaining, like in Pina Bausch's shows.

"I've decided I don't want to compromise in the work I do, so I'm grateful for funded art because we're like a research department for dance that dance companies feed off."

Does being an Australian working in Britain have an impact on Newson's work; in other words, does it give him an outsider's perspective? "That suggestion has been put to me, what you're implying about being an outsider as an Australian, but I'm not aware of those things in my work," he says. "But I am fascinated by any society, and I am curious as an outsider that in the world I circulate in, in the arts, in a predominantly white middle class world, I notice that with every 200 miles you travel north in this country, you see how different the people are, how they change."

All this may come across as a detour, a deviation, from DV8's new show, but gradually the interview turned to the subject of John, and in particular a revelation from Newson. "For our research, we interviewed 50 men who use gay saunas, and the great thing about gay saunas is that mostly people don't speak there, and so you can find a judge next to a thief but they don't know that and often they don't want to know that," he says.

DV8 performers Andi Xhuma and Ian Garside. Picture: Kris Rozental

"So we made contact with people who use these saunas and invited them individually to our office to talk to us and gave them the promise of anonymity."

Among them was John, whose story of crime, drug use, attempted suicide, prison, probation and his struggle for survival forms the first half of the show, while stories from other men who frequent gay saunas are integrated into the second half.

"Class is a huge thing in this country, but at gay saunas, where no-one talks, there's no sense of social class, but where you do get people making judgements is on body image," says Newson.

Should you be wondering why John went to a gay sauna, "Some men just go looking for sex," says Newson. "But John went looking for love". More will be revealed tonight and tomorrow.

DV8 Physical Theatre present John at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, tonight at 7.30pm and tomorrow at 3pm and 7.30pm. DV8 creative associate Hannes Langolf will host a post-show talk tonight.

Please note: DV8's show contains adult themes, strong language and nudity; the age guide is 16 plus.