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First Look Photos Unveiled For Jack Holden’s West End Debut CRUISE Ahead Of West End Run At The Duchess Theatre


08 April 2021

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16 PERFORMANCES OF THIS NEW FILMED PLAY WILL BE AVAILABLE TO WATCH AT STREAM.THEATRE FROM 15 APRIL – 25 APRIL 2021 AHEAD OF THE SHOW REOPENING THE DUCHESS THEATRE IN THE WEST END FROM 18 MAY – 13 JUNE.

WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY JACK HOLDEN, THIS BOLD, ONE-MAN SHOW FEATURING LIVE MUSIC WILL BE ONE OF THE FIRST PLAYS TO OPEN IN THE WEST END FOLLOWING ITS CLOSURE IN MARCH 2020.

CRUISE MARKS WEST END DEBUT AS A PLAYWRIGHT FOR JACK HOLDEN AND FOR THEATRE PRODUCERS KATY LIPSON AND LAMBERT JACKSON.

Images taken during the filming of the world premiere of CRUISE  have been released today. Written and performed by Jack Holden (War Horse, West End; Ink, Almeida Theatre), CRUISE  is an urgent, moving and inspirational new play with live music and spoken word. Bringing to life 1980’s Soho, this one-man show is a celebration of queer culture; a kaleidoscopic musical and spoken word tribute to the veterans of the AIDs crisis.  The film will be available to watch from 15 April – 25 April at Stream.Theatre before the show reopens the Duchess Theatre in the West End from 18 May – 13 June.

 

 

Based on a true story Jack was told whilst volunteering for Switchboard, the LGBTQ+ Listening Service, this new play, directed by Bronagh Lagan, shines a light on a generation devastated by HIV and AIDs. The show will feature an uplifting 80s electronic soundtrack featuring classic anthems as well as original new music performed live by The Little Unsaid’s John Elliott.

~ February 29th, 1988. Soho, London. ~

CRUISE is the true story of what should have been Michael Spencer’s last night on Earth.  When Michael is diagnosed with HIV in 1984, he’s told he’ll have four years to live - at most. So, with the clock ticking, he and his partner, Dave, decide to sell their house, flog the car, spend everything they have and party like it’s the last days of Rome. When Dave dies two years later, Michael doubles down on his hedonistic ways, spending what little he has left and drowning himself in drink and drugs. 

On the last night of his four-year countdown - the 29th February, 1988 - Michael decides to go out with a bang. He puts on his favourite jacket, heads for Soho, and embarks on a long night of farewells. He says his goodbyes to friends, enemies and strangers; old haunts, dive bars, cafes, clubs and pubs; his brothers, sisters, allies and exes. He dances, sings, and says yes to everything and everyone. Then, with all his affairs taken care of, Michael promptly… survives.  Michael got lucky, and he goes on to live to a ripe old age. Michael has been given the gift of life; but what kind of life can he now live?

 

 

The full creative team for the film includes Jack Holden (writer and performer), John Elliott (Music and Sound Design), Bronagh Lagan (Director), Jack Hextall (Camera and Editor), Nik Corrall (Designer), Jai Morjaria (Lighting Designer) Sarah Golding (Movement) and Max Pappenheim (Additional Sound Design).

Initial development supported by Help Musicians Fusion Fund and Shoreditch Town Hall.

Find CRUISE on Twitter: @CruiseThePlay, Instagram: @CruiseThePlay and Facebook.

CRUISE

Stream.theatre:

15 – 25 April 2021

Available to book and watch online here

Credits for the film:

Produced by Aria Entertainment and Lambert Jackson Productions in association with Shoreditch Town Hall.

Written By and Starring Jack Holden

Music And Sound Design by John Elliott

Director - Bronagh Lagan

Camera and Editor - Jack Hextall

Designer - Nik Corrall

Lighting Designer - Jai Morjaria

Movement - Sarah Golding

Additional Sound Design - Max Pappenheim

 

 

West End:

Duchess Theatre

18 May – 13 June

Tuesday – Friday 8pm

Saturdays at 3pm & 8pm

Sundays at 3pm & 6pm 

Press night: 20 May at 8pm

 

 

Credits for West End:

Produced by Aria Entertainment and Lambert Jackson.

Written By and Starring Jack Holden

Music And Sound Design by John Elliott

Director - Bronagh Lagan

Design - Nik Corrall

Co-Designer – STUFISH Entertainment Architects

Lighting Designer - Jai Morjaria

Movement - Sarah Golding

Additional Sound Design - Max Pappenheim

General Management and Assistant Producer - Chris Matanlé for Aria Entertainment

 

 

See it Safely
We have been granted the use of Society of London Theatre & UK Theatre's See It Safely mark. The mark certifies that we are complying with the latest Government and industry COVID-19 guidelines, to ensure the safety of our staff and audiences. You can find out more here about the measures we have been putting in place ready for your visit, and what you will need to know beforehand.

The venue will be operating at 50% capacity in line with the current government guidelines. Safety measures at the Duchess Theatre include hand sanitisation, face coverings, track and trace, contactless tickets, temperature testing and the regular deep cleans across the building.

BIOGRAPHIES

Jack Holden
Jack trained as an actor at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He then went straight on to play the lead role of Albert in the National Theatre’s internationally award-winning production of WAR HORSE.

Since then, Jack has worked at theatres across the country including Leicester Curve, Theatre Royal Bath, Bristol Old Vic, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Nottingham Playhouse, The Yard and the Almeida. He was most recently seen in the West End in James Graham’s INK, directed by Rupert Goold. Jack has also appeared in British independent films THE LEVELLING and JOURNEY’S END. He has featured in television drama for BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Amazon.

Jack took part in the Royal Court Young Writers Programme in 2013. He is currently under commission to Out of Joint.

John Elliott, Composer, Sound Designer & Performer
John is a composer, producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist hailing from a small town in the Calder Valley of West Yorkshire. Over the last decade he’s released several critically-acclaimed albums under his recording alias The Little Unsaid, known for genre-bending music that combines elements of live electronics, pop, rock and alt-folk. He has toured Europe extensively and performed at major festivals including Glastonbury, and in 2017 a team of music industry professionals including Gilles Peterson and Four Tet awarded him the Steve Reid InNOVAtion Award for boundary-pushing music creators. As well as working on The Little Unsaid's upcoming album, due for release on Reveal Records in spring 2021, John has spent the last year composing more music for film and theatre, including National Youth Theatre's upcoming adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm.

About ARIA ENTERTAINMENT
Aria Entertainment was founded in 2012 by Katy Lipson. In 2017, Katy was awarded the Best Producer award by the Off-West End Awards and is a recipient of the Stage One Bursary and Start Up Award. She made “The Stage 100” in 2018, 2019 and 2020 for her work at Hope Mill Theatre and in 2021 for her work as a solo producer.

Katy produced the UK Premiere Tour of The Addams Family and the 50th Anniversary production of HAIR at the London Vaults, which she originally co-produced with Hope Mill Theatre in 2016, where she was the Producing Artistic Director for all in-house musicals from 2016 - 2019. HAIR (The Vaults) won the award for Best Off-West End Production at the 2018 Whatsonstage Awards and completed a major UK Tour in 2019. Their transfer of Pippin, which played at the Southwark Playhouse, was nominated for a record number of Off West End Awards. Their production of Spring Awakening won the award for Best Regional show at the 2019 WOS awards. In 2012, the bicentenary year of Charles Dickens’ birth, she produced a revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood at the Arts Theatre, West End. This was followed by a transfer to the same venue in 2017 of new musical The Toxic Avenger following runs at The Edinburgh Festival’s Pleasance Theatre and the Southwark Playhouse.

Katy set up the From Page to Stage festival to support new musicals at all difference stages of development. In 6 years FPTS has given platform to over 100 new musicals of which many have gone on to have full productions and be licensed worldwide and now they run a full-time literary department for new musicals.

Other productions include: Mame (UK Tour), whIch was nominated for 7 WhatsOnStage Awards and starred Tracie Bennett; Unexpected Joy (Southwark Playhouse and York Theatre, Off-Broadway); It’s Only Life (Union Theatre); MameThe Astonishing Times of Timothy CratchitRagsPutting it TogetherThe Return of the SoldierPippinSpring AwakeningAspects of LoveLittle WomenThe ToyBoy DiariesYank!Parade and HAIR (Hope Mill Theatre); the London transfers of Pippin (Southwark Playhouse) and Yank! (Charing Cross Theatre); Rags and tick, tick...BOOM! (Park Theatre); The Last 5 Years (Off West End Award for Best Musical)Aspects of LoveThe Toxic Avenger and Promises, Promises (Southwark Playhouse); Vanities The Musical (Trafalgar Studios); The House of Mirrors & Hearts (Arcola Theatre); See What I Wanna See and The Return Of The Soldier (Jermyn Street Theatre); The Adventures of PinocchioLizzie and The Who’s Tommy (Greenwich Theatre), Marry Me A LittleJerry’s Girls and Forever Plaid (St. James Studio); Bar Mitzvah BoyThat’s Jewish EntertainmentBette Miller and MeThe Jewish LegendsThe Great Jewish American Songbook and The MGM Story (Upstairs at the Gatehouse and The Radlett Centre).

Other current projects include: The Osmonds (UK Tour); C-o-n-t-a-c-t (Various Worldwide Productions); Sammy (Lyric Hammersmith); The Addams Family (UK Tour) and Elton John: It’s A Little Bit Funny (UK Tour). Twitter: @AriaEnts

LAMBERT JACKSON

Founded by Jamie Lambert (CEO) and Eliza Jackson (Creative Director), Lambert Jackson made their debut at Cadogan Hall in August 2018 with There’s Nothin’ Like a Dame – 100 Years of Women in Musical Theatre, and have since received two Broadway World Award nominations.

Their various productions have received critical acclaim, including Main Men of Musicals, West End Women, Love at the Musicals, multiple Favourites series at The Other Palace, The Throwaways, Ramin Karimloo and The Broadgrass Band, and Doctor Zhivago. Over the last ten months, Lambert Jackson created the UK’s biggest online concert series, Leave a Light On, with over 90 shows designed to provide income for actors during the Covid-19 lockdown, as well as leading the way with their virtual productions of musicals The Last Five YearsFirst Date[title of show], I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now ChangeBKLYN, and Songs For A New World – the latter of which became the first musical to play a West End stage after the first national lockdown with sold out performances at the London Palladium in October 2020.

For their extensive work throughout the pandemic, Lambert Jackson were named in The Stage 100 2021. Lambert Jackson have continued to contribute new, innovative theatrical productions to keep audiences entertained and members of the theatrical industry employed, and were described in 2020 by Theatre Weekly as “proving themselves to be true champions of theatre”.

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