Jack Holden’s Cruise to make Australian premiere in Sydney this February

Fruit Box Theatre in association with bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company presents the Australian premiere of Jack Holden’s Cruise at KXT on Broadway, as part of the 2025 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival, this February.

“Let’s make sure we’re travelling so fast that the heat we generate when we reenter the sky will burn us up and paint the night with light.”

Backlit by the clubs of London’s Soho, Michael Spencer faces the music of his last night on Earth. Diagnosed with HIV in 1984, he’s told by doctors that he has just four years to live.

Determined, he decides his doomsday will be his biggest party yet. Sweat mixes with tears, and final dances turn into farewells. There’s a midnight countdown to his death but Michael … survives. With the gift of life, how can he go on living?

Directed by Sean Landis (Back to Birdy, Leather Cleaner) and featuring Fraser Morrison, Cruise is an intergenerational monologue spanning four decades and over 20 characters, celebrating queer nightlife and paying tribute to a generation lost to the AIDS crisis.

Jack Holden is an actor and writer from London. His West End credits include the National Theatre’s War Horse and the Almeida Theatre’s Ink. He has also performed at the RSC, Bristol Old Vic and toured extensively around the UK. Cruise was his West End debut as a playwright, receiving a nomination for the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2022