What would you do if given an expiry date on your life? This is a question that drives the narrative of Cruise, written by Jack Holden during the COVID lockdowns. Inspired by his time as a volunteer for the UK’s LGBTQIA+ support line, Switchboard, the play is set in the present/recent times and in 1980s Soho in London during the early days of a different pandemic, that of HIV/Aids.
In 2022, Holden’s play was nominated for Best New Play at the Olivier Awards, given for excellence in West End productions. And now Cruise has made it to Sydney, produced by Fruit Box Theatre in association with the bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company.
While the audience meets a range of characters, the story revolves around that of Jack, a rather inexperienced young man working the phones at Switchboard, and an older caller, Michael, who takes Jack back on a journey through the highs and tragedies of the 1980s. He traces his journey to Soho and in finding his great love, Dave, while dancing and cruising Soho’s bars and clubs and streets. He documents the coming of the ‘great plague’ and the importance of shared community. When Michael and Dave are told they have contracted HIV, they make the decision to party to the end of their days.
Michael’s tale is a song to a lost Soho, a story of a lost love and a hymn to a lost generation of young men told with humour, empathy and authenticity.
The phone conversation acts as an oral history, passing on fast disappearing knowledge to a younger generation. And just like other cross-generational stories about past global conflicts, this too is about a war. The language of conflict is sprinkled throughout the narrative – shrapnel, battle weary, veterans – as the protagonists fight not only an invisible enemy, but also prejudice.
And the casualties are many. The catalogue of those lost cited towards the end reads like the endless lists of names found on memorials in any Australian city.
Despite the often distressing content, this is a play full of joy. And one of the most joyful parts is the performance of Fraser Morrison. In this, a single person show, Morrison has big shoes to fill, and he does this with great skill and style. Despite playing multiple roles, from a voice at the end of the phone to a drag performance, you are never in any doubt as to who is whom.
In fact, you are easily tricked into forgetting there is only one actor on the stage. This is achieved not only with voice and accent: Morrison is a shapeshifter. He physically changes shape with each character, individual features and personality traits detailed by the flick of a jacket, the position of a hip, the turn of a chin, complemented by quirks of language. This is a visceral, embodied performance, enhanced by the fluidity of Morrison’s movements.
The fragmented set is clean and simple but effective, and Morrison glides across its parts as seamlessly as he slides into each character. There’s an office, a bar, a dance floor, a lounge room, each space clearly delineated by a different bright colour.
The lighting is character driven, following Morrison around the set, vividly recreating the strobing, sweaty atmosphere of a rave.
The performance is supported by music with a history of its own, ranging from pop and synth to Chicago House. Any audience member who, like this one, lived through the 1980s will surely feel a touch of nostalgia.
If there is one small gripe, it is that in those clubbing scenes, the loudness of the music and the brightness of the strobe combine to obscure the spoken – or shouted – words. While this faithfully mimics that nightclub experience of trying to speak over the volume, the words in Cruise are so well crafted, a poetry of the night, that you don’t want to miss a single one. And while Sydneysiders may not be able to directly relate to Soho and its sites, they could easily translate this into, say, the Cross.
KXT on Broadway’s intimate space creates the perfect partnership between performer and audience for experiencing the play’s emotional ride, to dance and cry alongside the protagonists. That not a second was wasted by the audience in giving a standing ovation attests to this success.
Read: Theatre review: Mahabharata, His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth Festival
Michael, of course, survives HIV and the ‘last night of his life’. Like any veteran, he carries a level of guilt about that survival. But this play is not just a history lesson nor a vicarious trip through wild times. Considering current events here and overseas, Cruise also solemnly asks us the question: how should we live, right now?
Cruise by Jack Holden
KXT on Broadway, produced by Fruit Box Theatre in association with bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company
Director: Sean Landis with Fraser Morrison
Movement Director: Jeremy Lloyd
Production/Sound Designer: Chelsea Wheatley
Lighting Designer: Tom Hicks
Accent/Dialect Coach: Linda Nicholls-Gidley
Assistant Production Designer: Lucy Doherty
Stage Manager: Caitlyn Cowan
Assistant Stage Manager: Alice Chao
Cinematographer: Anna McGirr
Photographer: Abraham de Souza
Community Consultants: Jonny Seymour, Wilfred Roach, Helen Fraser
Access Coordinator: Courtney Henson
Producer: Hana Truban
Associate Producer: Louis Walker
Cast: Fraser Morrison
Tickets $40-$50
Content Warnings
References to Self-harm
References to HIV/AIDS Related Illness and Death
References to Homophobia
Depictions of Drug Use
Sexual Themes
Flashing Lights
Use of Herbal Cigarettes
Loud Music
Cruise will be performed until 22 Feb 2025 as part of Sydney’s Mardi Gras.
