Cruise is, simply put, a masterclass in single-person performance. From the exquisite writing, to the impressively engaging performance, to the sound design which propels the show forward almost slingshot-like with its energy, Cruise is one of the best pieces of theatre you’ll see this year.
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"The poetic script, which runs the gamut from comedic accounts of the salacious goings on in the back streets of Soho to a gut-wrenching list of men who were lost to the AIDS epidemic, takes you on an emotional rollercoaster without ever once losing its hold on your attention."
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"The play persuasively inhabits a carpe diem state of mind as much as it pays homage to a community history, and counters its more indulgent moments with waspish observation."
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A paean to a sybaritic Soho of a vanished era, Cruise namechecks the bars and, well, cruising locales of an earlier era, while the music encompasses Gloria Gaynor and Patsy Cline and many others besides.
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One of the main reasons the play works so well is Holden’s superb research and knowledge of the period...It’s a joyous, funny, moving piece and I urge you to see it.
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As the West End reopens, the pick of the young crop is Jack Holden’s self-performed debut about life on London’s gay scene in the 1980s.
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Though [Jack Holden] sometimes overwrites – the rhythm can throb repetitively and the adjectives rarely come singly – Holden performs with candour and excitement. He has earned his audience.
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But [Cruise] is a remarkable tour-de-force, directed with inventive control by Bronagh Lagan, and powered by Holden's passionate, loving performance which conjures and celebrates all these lost men.
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