Pamela Raith Photography
When Jack Holden was 22, he volunteered at Switchboard, a much-cherished and valued LGBTQ+ information and support line in London. He had already landed his big break, starring in the West End production of War Horse, straight out of drama school. Suddenly, he was a young gay man smack in the heart of London. He wanted to meet people. “I wanted a community,” Holden said. “In some sense it was quite selfish, but I also did want to help.”
Ten years later, Holden is back on the West End, performing an acclaimed solo play inspired by one of the calls he received at Switchboard. Cruise, running at the Apollo Theatre for an encore engagement through September 4, was the first West End production to open after Covid restrictions lifted there last spring.
“It was the biggest rush I’ve ever felt in my life,” Holden told The Daily Beast of that first return to the stage. The play’s exhilarating tour through 1980s Soho, a libertine sanctuary set upon by a plague, resonated with audiences emerging from pandemic isolation. It also landed Holden an Olivier nomination for Best Play.