I recently had the privilege to watch Lewis Buxton do his thing, as he gave us a performance of his long form poem-cum-storytelling in a piece called FRIEND.
It's partly about his reaching out for a best mate after moving to Norwich with no network around him, but it's also an exploration of his struggle with mental health and crippling OCD. It was a beautiful, uplifting piece, which diverts us a few times down different paths and delves into a number of wide-ranging emotions.
I feel like Lewis did shy away from plumbing the depths of his feelings, and instead chose to deliver a more humorous take on what was clearly a difficult time for him. This felt like a deliberate choice, however, with Lewis acknowledging that humour is a bit of a defence mechanism for him.
The piece covers familiar ground for those growing up around the height of the Friends sitcom era, with Lewis exploring his similarity to the character of Chandler, and explaining that he wants a friend like Joey. It also makes use of football analogies as this plays a big part in Lewis' quest for friendship - there's also a number of references to Norwich City players, which, while I enjoyed it, may be lost on audiences outside of Norfolk of course.
As you'd imagine, Lewis has a way with words, but he's also a very magnetic presence, and comfortably able to hold a crowd in the palm of his hands.
He played just a single date in Norwich, and his tour continues outside of East Anglia until the end of November. However, you can keep an eye on what he's up to by visiting lewisbuxton.com or checking out the poetry events company he runs, Toast, via toastpoetry.com
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