Duchess Theatre, London – until 13 June 2021
Reviewed by Alun Hood
5*****
Outside of the late Kevin Elyot’s superb canon, it’s hard to think of any other British plays that deal with the devastating effects of HIV and AIDS upon the gay community. The USA has the NYC-centric The Normal Heart, As Is, and Angels In America, and, more recently, New York-based writer Mathew Lopez’s extraordinary epic The Inheritance, which premiered at The Young Vic but always had its spiritual home on the other side of the pond, where it’s Broadway run was curtailed by the current pandemic. But over here, not so much.
That balance is magnificently redressed by this accomplished, scintillating almost-monologue by Jack Holden who also performs his own challenging, transporting script. It’s brilliant.
Holden proves a true chameleon, switching from unassuming present-day good guy to outrageous Soho denizens of yesteryear, to edgy, but not unsympathetic, gay movers-and-shakers, with an astonishing fluidity. At the top of the show he might seem likeable if nondescript, but by the end of it you’re unlikely to forget him.
Part confessional, part salacious fun, with a large dose of pain and guilt, yet always entirely engaging, Cruise conjures up a lost Soho that marries sleaze with a sense of gleeful community that may be gone forever but fairly bursts with vitality. The juxtaposition of this vibrant gay milieu decimated with AIDS, and our present global situation where Covid-19 affects literally everybody, devastatingly hits home but never feels preachy.
From Bronagh Lagan’s deceptively sophisticated direction, so seamlessly natural you almost don’t appreciate how clever it is, to the exquisite sound design of John Elliot (who also performs as a musician/extra character and is at once unobtrusive yet magically indispensable) and Max Pappenheim, and Jai Morjaria’s frequently stunning, neon-etched lighting, this is one of those rare productions that seldom puts a foot wrong. It evokes a 1980s Soho that is (was) simultaneously full of joy, kindness, eccentricity and danger.
Cruise covers a similar recent-historical period as Russell T. Davies’s epoch-making It’s A Sin. It’s not an exaggeration to say that this is just as impressive. If you enjoyed that, you’re probably going to adore this. It’s currently booked in for a month at the Duchess in the West End….. I strongly suspect this will be around for a lot longer than that. It’s terrific.