Jiri Havelka is in a cramped internet café talking into a microphone on Skype.

Not exactly ideal interview conditions, but then the Czech is very much accustomed to working with limited space at the moment.

The award-winning dance production that Havelka has directed with the VerTeDance company, Correction, is concerned with the theme of restricted freedom.

“I wanted to explore what dancers could do, how much energy and movement they could show, if they are just standing in one spot,” says Havelka of the show which comes to the Theatre Royal on May 24 & 25.

It is the first time he has worked solely with dancers, coming from a background of theatre directing and working with actors in studios.

“I was actually influenced by an old theatre show I did which was about female prisoners in 1950s Czechoslovakia.

“It was set in a basement in old building in Prague, which was very dark and reminded everyone of cells and jails. I don’t know if it translates to English, but Correction was the word for that very restricted space where you can’t even lie down.

“The idea needed to evolve from there, of course, but the starting point was that concept that dancers could only take one step, then one step; one step at a time.”

This idea of gradual, steady movement is complemented by the Clarinet Factory’s musical accompaniment to the dance, which “starts off simple and repetitive and gradually expands beyond that,” according to Havelka.

At a time where half of contemporary theatre and dance productions seem to incorporate the theme of state surveillance and technologic privacy intrusions – perhaps with good reason – Havelka says his show is more to do with the strange paradox of limitless freedom becoming intolerable.

“There are so many options in life, and you can do so much, that some kind of limitation might be a good thing! It might make it easier for us to make decisions. Also, if you have limitations on the outside, it forces you to think more about yourself on the inside.”

Implementing restrictions – only using one’s left wrist, for instance – on “big, expressive” performers was a new thrill for Havelka, who has never studied choreography but whose theatre work has “always involved a lot of physical coordination and synchronisation.”

He was happy to observe that the VerTeDance members “mess around” less in rehearsals than the actors he has worked with.

“It’s incredible how dancers are so engaged in the present moment,” he gushes.

“With actors it might take some time to get into the project, but with these dancers it was so focused and concentrated. They are perfect actors in a way because they are not exaggerating, they are just in the role completely.”

There are hints that Havelka expects a lot from his team; he is passionate about every member “seeing the whole concept rather than just trying to fulfil his individual role,” and warns that “one small detail by somebody can change the whole process.”

One review of Correction suggests that the director puts his dancers through “experimental torture” in his aforementioned theme of restricted freedom, but he laughs off any suggestion that the phrase could be applied to his approach to work in general. “Of course sometimes there are crises in rehearsal, but I can say that no matter who I am working with torture never happens!”

For such an apparently meticulous artist, Havelka is more than happy to leave interpretations of Correction’s meaning up to its audience.

He doesn’t like writing publicity descriptions of his shows, so leaves it to somebody else. “The spectator comes into the performance with lots of information already,” he says.

“An audience member is already affected by their own expectations. For example some people have found the ending to this show unacceptable, but there are a few that really get the punchline. Everyone is free to have their own interpretations.”

Asked about the cultural scene of Prague, his creative base, Havelka returns to his earlier observation on modern life: “there are so many options.” “There is a huge scale of possibilities that you can see every evening.” And, given the conflicting feelings on space and freedom that Havelka has displayed in our talk and in his work, his last thoughts seem fitting. “This can be a problem because it is really crowded. But is it also a positive, of course.”

Correction

Theatre Royal Brighton,

Tuesday, May 24, and Wednesday, May 25 7.30pm, from £10.