Cruise

In the wake of Covid 19 there is a tendency to forget the AIDS pandemic in which so many died the 1980s. Jack Holden’s play Cruise jolts that memory in a way that is heartbreakingly clear as well creatively theatrical. Director Sean Landis describes it as “a time capsule and a reminder of how much the queer community has gone through” and a tribute to “those who fought for the rights and safety we have today”.

Cruise covers four short years of that time through the eyes and experiences of one man and the many people who touched his life: friends, lovers, callers to the hotline, people who partied, people who cared. It reawakens the uncertainty, suffering and fear that spread through the queer community … and celebrates their bravery, solidarity, buoyancy, humour and love.

It’s 90 minutes of memories and a host of characters are all played by one actor. A daunting feat! But executed brilliantly in this stunning performance by Fraser Morrison. Morrison is a fit, versatile performer whose energy sustains him through the demands of Holden’s many characters and accents and Landis’s complex creative direction that has him moving constantly across a busy stage.

Morrison takes it all in his loose, elegant style. Whether waiting hesitantly at a call centre, dancing erotically in a disco, singing soulfully on a central podium, or thoughtfully considering the future with a sick friend, his vitality and magnetism pervade every moment.

He switches accents constantly in the many conversations that are Holden’s script, yet every character is clearly recognisable, not just in their accent but in the change of rhythm and tempo – and the humour that is central to so much of the script.

Morrison handles that humour with excellent timing and clever changes of delivery that are in keeping with the different characters and the times he meets up with them over the four years.

That includes the changes in maturity and personality of the central character himself, changes that Morrison introduces imperceptibly as the four years progress. Moments of anguish and fear are covered by optimism; despair is replaced by hope; bitterness by determined exuberance.

Landis keeps the pace fast, yet taut – allowing the tension and alarm of the time to pervade the action. The set, a series of different shaped platforms, allows him to move Morrison to different spaces and levels, giving the production an energy that is enhanced by lighting (Tom Hicks) and sound (Chelsea May Wheatley) that conjure the desperate vibe of the 1980s.

There is a sense of togetherness in this production, in keeping with the premise of the play, and enforced by the company’s partnership with the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, that has provided essential services to thousands of HIV sufferers since 1984.

But it is Fraser Morrison who makes that sense of togetherness real through his affinity with Holden’s characters, his understanding of the messages that they send, and the vibrant grace and energy of his performance.

Carol Wimmer

Photographer: Abraham de Souza