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Post by alessia on Aug 24, 2022 10:54:58 GMT
Looking forward to seeing this next week. Just had an email to say my 8pm Friday performance time had now been changed to 8.30pm though. I suspect it's due to the 5.30pm matinee they added. Where is the extra show on Friday? Doesn't come up online... |
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Post by A.Ham on Aug 24, 2022 11:33:19 GMT
It’s on Friday 3rd Sept. Onsale on the Nimax site.
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Post by alessia on Aug 24, 2022 12:18:28 GMT
It’s on Friday 3rd Sept. Onsale on the Nimax site. Thank you. Maybe because I was only checking the offers, this one wasn't showing. |
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Post by jm25 on Aug 24, 2022 23:11:25 GMT
Saw this tonight and utterly adored it. I wasn't familiar with either the play or Jack Holden going in. I remembered seeing him in the English version of Call My Agent and thinking he was very good in it, but that was only a very small role and not every supporting actor can make the transition to a leading role, not least in a one-man show! But he was absolutely brilliant. Was hugely impressed with how he handled the physicality of the performance and the switching between the characters, and his singing voice is quite possibly one of the most beautiful voices I've heard live. I'd love to see him in a musical! I'm never sure how careful to be with spoilers so I'll tag the following just in case: {Spoiler - click to view}In terms of the writing, it took a little while to fall into the 'play within the play' structure and at first I couldn't figure out why he'd chosen this as a framing device. I just wasn't sure what it added. But I totally understood by the end and it all clicked with his speech about how lucky a thing it is to be able to grow old.
The obvious point of comparison for this is It's A Sin, but Cruise is absolutely its own entity with its own story to tell. It's A Sin felt like a story being told by someone who lived through it, primarily for people who lived through it. However, what the plot structure of Cruise adds is the kind of clarity you only really get with the passage of time. I'm similar in age to Jack and think that the insight Cruise offers is actually probably most beneficial to people of our age, who weren't there and didn't live through it.
All you can really ask of live theatre is for it to reach out and touch you - and that's what this did. There were so many moments which felt true and profound. At times it just soared. Normally the walk to the Tube station after a show is a bit of a slog as I just want to get home, but after this I really felt like I needed that time to decompress and digest everything I'd seen. Plugged my Airpods in and listened to one of the songs he sings during the show, and I swear I was almost getting teary! Anyway, all in all I would recommend this to absolutely everyone. Please see this if you can. It's wonderful. And get your merch before it starts! Play texts were in stock this evening but there was a big rush for the merch at the end, whereas the stand was quite quiet before the show. |
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Post by alessia on Aug 25, 2022 10:19:01 GMT
I've got a rush ticket for tonight, can't wait after all the positive reviews! It'll be a bit strange to be back at the Apollo, front row, after sitting there twice for Jerusalem
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Post by jm25 on Aug 25, 2022 10:55:08 GMT
I've got a rush ticket for tonight, can't wait after all the positive reviews! It'll be a bit strange to be back at the Apollo, front row, after sitting there twice for Jerusalem I was front row for both too! Was covered in significantly less debris at Cruise! |
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Post by jamb0r on Aug 25, 2022 11:26:05 GMT
I've got a rush ticket for tonight, can't wait after all the positive reviews! It'll be a bit strange to be back at the Apollo, front row, after sitting there twice for Jerusalem I was going to have to pop by the theatre to pick up a playtext anyway so thought I might as well see it again tonight and am also front row  I am sure I won't be sobbing nearly as much on a second viewing, so I promise to not be a disturbance!  |
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Post by alessia on Aug 25, 2022 11:36:30 GMT
I've got a rush ticket for tonight, can't wait after all the positive reviews! It'll be a bit strange to be back at the Apollo, front row, after sitting there twice for Jerusalem I was front row for both too! Was covered in significantly less debris at Cruise! So funny, I was also thinking about this, and thought to myself, I won't have to worry about what I'm wearing for a change :-D |
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Post by alessia on Aug 25, 2022 11:38:00 GMT
I've got a rush ticket for tonight, can't wait after all the positive reviews! It'll be a bit strange to be back at the Apollo, front row, after sitting there twice for Jerusalem I was going to have to pop by the theatre to pick up a playtext anyway so thought I might as well see it again tonight and am also front row I am sure I won't be sobbing nearly as much on a second viewing, so I promise to not be a disturbance! Ah! I hope I won't be sobbing...too much...but who knows. BTW I don't mind THIS king of disturbance :-) |
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Post by A.Ham on Aug 25, 2022 13:54:24 GMT
Is front row for this row B do you know? If so I’m front row on Sat! 🤞🏻 And is it a high stage or all good on the viewing angle front?
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Post by jm25 on Aug 25, 2022 14:05:15 GMT
Is front row for this row B do you know? If so I’m front row on Sat! 🤞🏻 And is it a high stage or all good on the viewing angle front? Front row is A. The stage was perhaps a little high but not drastically so and the angle is absolutely fine. My neck certainly wasn’t aching by the end! |
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Post by A.Ham on Aug 25, 2022 16:53:47 GMT
Is front row for this row B do you know? If so I’m front row on Sat! 🤞🏻 And is it a high stage or all good on the viewing angle front? Front row is A. The stage was perhaps a little high but not drastically so and the angle is absolutely fine. My neck certainly wasn’t aching by the end! Ah thank you. I couldn’t see anything in A for any of the performances so assumed perhaps it hadn’t been on sale. I’m sure I’ll be fine in B! |
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Post by alessia on Aug 27, 2022 7:15:25 GMT
Really liked this on Thursday- Jack Holden was incredible. Moved to tears towards the end. I did not realised he was in Marriage until I read the programme, then I remembered he played the controlling boyfriend!
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Post by A.Ham on Aug 28, 2022 8:16:04 GMT
Saw this last night and loved it. Very moving, and Jack told Michael’s story with great timing and respect, but without pulling any punches or hiding from the grim reality of how AIDS affected so many lives.
I couldn’t help but think of Jodie Comer too, as having never seen a one man / woman play before this year, I’ve now seen two within a few months, and like Jodie, Jack absolutely nailed it with the different voices for the different characters he was describing, and the way he delivered such an a physically energetic peformance too. That Olivier nomination was well deserved! And the music too - absolutely perfect. Thought it was a clever (but I guess obvious) touch that even in the quieter moments there was a low soundtrack of people chatting and music playing in the background to show Michael was in a bar or club.
So glad I got to see it despite the very short run at the Apollo. The programme mentions a film version is in development so although that’ll lack the intimacy and one man elements that make this such a great piece of theatre, it’s great that it’ll reach a wider audience.
Jack was lovely too - I randomly bumped into him near the theatre when I was on my way to a restaurant pre-show and said I was coming to see him later. Then met him at stage door after and he happily signed my programme and play text and chatted with the handful of people there.
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Post by Steve on Aug 28, 2022 22:37:24 GMT
I couldn’t help but think of Jodie Comer too, as having never seen a one man / woman play before this year, I’ve now seen two within a few months, and like Jodie, Jack absolutely nailed it with the different voices for the different characters he was describing Ha ha, the luck of you to have seen two one-person plays and those were the ones! Two of the best one-person plays I've ever seen, too, and I've seen a few. I'd say this one was even better than "Prima Facie," since although Jodie Comer gave one of the best performances of anybody in any play ever, and displayed more emotional range than Jack Holden does here, that play was nowhere near as good as this one, being more of a manipulative polemic than the utterly brilliant and authentic love letter to the past that this one is.
I saw this at the 4pm matinee today, and although it starts slowly, with a framing device, and I thought it wasn't going to get me, I ended up weeping in awe for about half an hour solidly, once the principal tale got under way.
Some spoilers follow. . .
It's the world Holden paints with such differentiated, believable and relatable characters (Slutty Dave, Fat Sandy, Tabby Cat, Polari Gordon, the Twins Nymphs of Greek Street, etc, etc), all with specific, authentic and endearing ways of speaking, and all of whom Holden captures in his performance.
The thumping electronic eighties-reminiscent score by John Patrick Elliot is as brilliant as the play, and taken together, create an endless sense of kinetic movement of people and places, characters and action.
Holden is a hell of a singer and actor, able to sing hilariously badly on cue to create a sense of character, for the infamously negative and downbeat "Is that all there is?" by Peggy Lee, but then able to transition into a choral refrain that is exquisitely beuautiful, poignant and breathtakingly moving to cap off the scene.
The transition back and forth from prosaic writing to poetic writing was done so subtly and masterfully that you could be listening to convincing character description and mundane mordant dialogue and then find yourself immersed in the most poetic succinct description of that person's idiosyncracies without ever knowing when the one form of writing transitioned into the other.
This has been compared to "It's a Sin," Russell T. Davies brilliant drama about the coming of AIDS, but I found this much better than that, as this had no weak spots, no downtime, no mawkish moments.
It's a total triumph,effortlessly immersive and moving, with a memory of a time and a place (Soho in the eighties, once upon a time just round the corner from this theatre) that rings true, with characters you can relate to, dramatic action that compels, and an overall shape that completely works, with a peerless central performance, and a symbiotically superb score, and I feel so happy I got to see it before it closed.
5 stars from me. |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Aug 28, 2022 23:11:28 GMT
I could see him being a sensational Emcee.
But I suspect he will go on to much higher things than taking over that role and quite right too. A truly gifted actor.
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Post by A.Ham on Aug 29, 2022 7:02:01 GMT
Ha, thank you Steve! I feel very lucky to have seen them both. It might not have been such a mission to bag a ticket for Cruise as it was for Prima Facie but they’ve both blown me away and will stick in my mind for a long time to come.
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Post by kathryn on Aug 31, 2022 23:19:29 GMT
Very happy to have caught this tonight - thanks to this thread - as it’s the best new play I’ve seen for quite a while. Tightly-written, brilliantly performed, and the use of music was superbly done. - it really conjured the time and place.
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Post by richey on Sept 2, 2022 23:45:10 GMT
What a fantastic piece of theatre. Totally blown away by Jack's performance, he was incredible. I loved the way he portrayed so many different characters so vividly. And what a gorgeous singing voice too!
Just...wow
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Post by Rory on Sept 3, 2022 5:58:06 GMT
I would love to have seen this. Has it been filmed at all?
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Post by A.Ham on Sept 3, 2022 10:24:04 GMT
I would love to have seen this. Has it been filmed at all? Not that I’m aware of. The programme mentions a film version is in development though. I think this run is all that’s planned for the theatre production though, Jack tweeted something to that effect a few days ago. |
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Post by marob on Sept 3, 2022 11:21:27 GMT
Wasn’t it stream.theatre?
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Post by Dr Tom on Sept 3, 2022 15:01:50 GMT
Saw the early evening performance yesterday with a central front row rush ticket. Have to say, this is a tour-de-force performance. Being at the front, you feel incredibly immersed and the stage height isn’t as bad as I remembered. I haven’t seen this before or a recording, but I have to think this would work much better on stage. Glad that the live sound performer got to bow too as he is crucial for this working.
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Post by drowseychap on Sept 3, 2022 21:35:19 GMT
Wow wow wow 🤩 agree with everything written a true tour de force performance. From both actually the performance is so enriched by the live music one wouldn’t work without the other acting music lighting the whole choreographed performance stunning !! So glad I got to see this before it ends 240 mile round trip but worth every mile
I missed out on Rush tickets this morning !! That app is so annoying … told me for 2hours all tickets are held …. Then All tickets are gone I look elsewhere …. Then come back they had more tickets now all held again ….. so ring box office the won’t do any deals … so find TKTS doing dress row E for £24 great …. Then check tix … now 1pm … rush tickets available stalls Row R arghh what do I do …. 🤔check seat plan …. Hmmm dress looks better …. Then lose TKTS …. 🙈😱….. try rush 1.20 pm more available Row P end of row …. 😱😱🎭 try Tkts again phew seats back on sale book book book 😵💫…. Get them then alert comes Rush available Row M stalls lol …. view from dress E 9-10 was great 👍 worth every penny and if I had more money I’d of happily have paid a lot more to see such a quality performance 🎭
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Post by interval99 on Sept 5, 2022 22:37:59 GMT
Credit to the producers for the pricing on this, even before the offers the top ticket was £60 which for west end is a bargain and they seem to have had a solid audience for the show and deservedly so.
Powerful and amazing charismatic performance from Jack and a superbly structured play which allowed all the timelines and characters played by him to work perfectly and which he portrayed so richly that each one came alive if they had one line or a monologue.
Possibly a bit indulgent in the last third as while a fair majority of the audience reacted to just the name drop of a club or street the rest of us were waiting for a bit more context, hopefully with the proposed film being fully populated as per Shirley valentine they will make a vision the whole audience can share at the same time as a wider audience won't have the built in/ lived memories of the London Soho scene in the 80/90ths.
Do wonder where the remarkable talented Jack Holden will fit in the film, he will be too old to play young Jack or Mike and too young to play older Mike and current age Jack part is outshone by the other characters, but am sure he will be back on stage or TV soon and certainly hope this will not be his only play.
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I am sure I won't be sobbing nearly as much on a second viewing, so I promise to not be a disturbance! 
