Review: Cruise at KXT On Broadway

Review by Andrea Bunjamin

The phone keeps ringing, incessantly ringing. 

On a weekend shift, Jack, a 22-year-old queer volunteer is left alone in the office to man the desk at Switchboard, a LGBTQ+ hotline service. To say he has heard a lot from his brief time here is an understatement. Overwhelmed and on the verge of distress he finally picks up the phone. Music plays on the other line along with the smooth but disappointed voice of Michael Spencer, a middle-age gay man who lived a hedonistic life back in 1980’s. Michael had hoped to speak with someone older, someone who remembered Soho London as the heart of queer nightlife. The love, the tragedy, and its people. And that is how this intergenerational dialogue begins.

Written by British playwright Jack Holden and nominated for the 2022 Olivier Awards, Cruise is a play about finding joy in the darkest places and self-exploration amidst the AIDS crisis. Shining a light on this corner of queer history that shook an entire generation. A show that asks you to feel everything all at once. We follow Michael as he makes those tender connections with his community and loses the people that matter to him. 

Making its Australian Premiere and directed by Fruit Box Theatre’s Sean Landis, this one-performer play trapezes through historic gay clubs, 20 plus character switches and the infamous 80s Acid House music of its era.   

At its heart we have Fraser Morrison, who delivers Michael’s youthful monologue vivaciously through our protagonist’s arc. He strides from scene to scene and lives in the moment completely, making you truly forget that he is alone on stage. On top of his voice work and mannerisms, Morrison’s intriguing skills in movement makes the shift between characters look self-possessing. To the point where the most subtle changes in his expressions could immediately tell us who he is playing before he speaks. 

In Cruise, the set is a playground of four islands in each corner with a distinct prop. Its  saturated colours playing well into the sultry lighting design; a mustard desk, a matte red couch, a green bartop, complete with a cobalt blue dance floor. In the middle, a white circular platform where Morrison often centres himself. With all things considered, the production team has done an impressive job utilising KXT’s tiny space for a movement-intensive performance.

Speaking of – the ecstatic choreography. Movement Director, Jeremy Lloyd, brings in their immense wealth of knowledge in storytelling through the body that’s befitting for a lively story. Through the script's records of eclectic 80s music, the team had no shortage of influences to draw from when it comes to creating the lexicon of choreography Morrison could inhabit. Much appreciation and praise should be directed at the production's dedication to bringing diverse forms of movement, whether that be from theatre dancers to club entertainers. It’s the kind of dancing that’s inherently meant to draw you in and to take a closer look at the humanity of these characters. Through this we get a better understanding of what the culture of cruising meant to the queer community then. How having this safe bubble gives them the space to mourn, celebrate, and love. 

And that despite it all..we dance!

Image Supplied