André Holland is a real actor. He played pivotal roles in acclaimed films like Moonlight and The passageand the Cinemax TV series The Knicks. He’s also no stranger to the stage, having starred in a 2018 production of his Othello with Mark Rylance at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. You can currently watch Holland’s portrayal of Black Panther Party founder Huey P. Newton on the Apple TV+ series. The Big Cigar. All episodes are available to stream now.

More: André Holland on playing Huey P. Newton for The Big Cigar

For Treat, Holland expresses admiration for Complicité, an English theater company known for its avant-garde productions of Crocodile Street and Mnemonic. He has a personal connection to the company, attending workshops that connected him to work with his physique to find a role.

Under the direction of actor and director Simon McBurney, Complicité focuses on physical theater and non-verbal storytelling—skillfully blending movement, music and visuals to create immersive experiences. This approach resonates deeply with Holland and leads him to reflect on this question: How can I convey a scene or a moment without relying on language?

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This segment has been edited and condensed for clarity.

At the moment, the thing on my mind is the work of a company called Theater de Complicité. They are an English company (and) currently (are) run by a man called Simon McBurney, who is a wonderful actor and also an amazing director. They did shows like Crocodile Street and Mnemonic. So many amazing works. Their work really inspires me.

Simon trained at a school with a man named Jacques Lecoq, who taught at a school in Paris that really focused on the body as the main way to get into character. And for me, as a young black man growing up in rural Alabama, trying to find my way in theater and performing, and I often felt isolated and out of place—whether I was working on Ibsen, or Shaw, or Tennessee Williams, or whatever. piece I was doing in school at the time — (I would) often feel like, “I’m not sure I belong in this world.” I don’t feel like I can be fully me in this space. And how do I fit into this play? I discovered this work and found it not only so beautiful and so profound, but also so liberating. And I felt that there was room for me and many other people like me in this kind of work.

I like working from a physical place. It sets me free. I mean, I spend a lot of time in my head in my day-to-day life, so it’s super freeing to connect with my body and see what it has to offer.

I recently did a workshop with Complicité. It’s like, how can you tell us the story of a scene or a moment without using language? When you train your body to work like that, I think it really translates beautifully on screen because I think you notice things like he’s not touching this person there, or just the reaction, the way a word will make a person’s body REACTS. I think we as an audience don’t necessarily know why we get it, but we get it. I think that had a big influence on me, that kind of work.