Cruise Archives - North West End UK

26Jul

By Scot CunninghamNo Comments

North West

Cruise – HOME Mcr

After two crowd-pleasing West End runs, this vibrant, gritty HIV-based drama journeys outside London for its first time. Through a tell-all phone call to Switchboard answered by the young and inexperienced Jack, Michael recounts his supposed final years in London following a HIV diagnosis that gave him 4 years left to live. Jack Holden imbues the piece with wholehearted zest as he bounces, climbs and dances around Nik Corrall’s versatile industrial set. Capably taking on all roles- that’s some thirty characters, though a few may be surplus to requirement- Holden never wavers, captivating the audience with his energy alone. This is by no means a one-show, though: on-stage music producer John Patrick Elliott supplies an intense electronic score, the beats, tunes and synth of which t...

CRUISE – Duchess Theatre

Having reviewed the online stream of CRUISE during the last lockdown back in April, I was super excited to see how this intimate piece would translate from the screen to the stage, and believe me it did not disappoint. CRUISE is a lyrical celebration of queer culture, a musical and spoken word tribute to the veterans of the AIDS crisis written and performed by Jack Holden. In every way it is a perfectly crafted piece of queer theatre and whilst the online version was deeply personal in its storytelling, the on the stage narrative hits you with full force square between the eyes. A brilliant, beautiful and yet gut wrenchingly brutal piece of theatre. Poetic. Artistic. Honest. One man’s memory of a horrific period in the gay culture of ‘80s London. CRUISE is the true story of what shou...

Cruise – Aria Entertainment and Lambert Jackson

Oscar Wilde suggested that the theatre is the “greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being” and this sentiment is beautifully represented in Jack Holden’s latest play CRUISE. A lyrical celebration of queer culture, CRUISE is a musical and spoken word tribute to the veterans of the AIDS crisis. A perfectly crafted piece of queer theatre. Poetic. Artistic. Honest. It is a brutal depiction of a horrific period in the gay culture of ‘80s London. Of course, there is no message more powerful or indeed primal than that which shows the need of a human to protect their tribe and this story, told through the eyes of a 30-year-old Jack (jack Holden) in 2021, is the perfect example of survival, of ...