KENREX

The Other Palace

★★★★★

“a wickedly clever, propulsive and wildly entertaining piece of theatre”

I was lucky enough to catch the culmination of Jack Holden and John Patrick Elliott’s journey with Cruise a couple of years ago at the Apollo, a one-man ode to Soho in the 80s at the height of the AIDS crisis. Blending live music (performed onstage by Elliott) with sharply drawn characters, Holden delivered a performance so magnetic it marked him instantly as a force to be reckoned with.

From Soho to Skidmore this time, Kenrex charts a sprawling true-crime scandal centred on Ken Rex McElroy, a bully who terrorised a small Missouri town for over a decade before finally meeting his demise at the hands of the very community he tormented. Though it may share stylistic bones with Cruise, Kenrex elevates the form entirely: a breathless, precision-engineered piece of theatre powered by a performer who makes a one-man show feel improbably, impossibly full.

Holden and Ed Stambollouian’s script — with Stambollouian also directing — is a marvel in itself: razor-tight, inventive and packed with narrative confidence. Its interview framing device keeps the story humming with momentum. Despite featuring more characters than a Shakespearean history, Holden snaps between voices and physicalities with such agility you stop registering he’s alone up there. He’s clearly relishing every second, scattering standout moments like confetti: a lawyer sequence pitched somewhere between legal argument and musical number, and an early description of the titular McElroy so quietly forensic it becomes a transformation in real time.

Act Two maintains the pace effortlessly. There’s a nimble recap that’s stitched together through radio static and quotations, which sweeps you instantly back into the story without a moment of drag. The imaginative clarity continues until the end: a circle of microphones representing half the town becomes a visual chorus, and a narrowing spotlight isolates Holden as the mayor’s grip on the community falters. It’s smart, expressive stagecraft: everything working in harmony to create the illusion of dozens of people sharing the stage, when in reality it’s just two artists entirely in sync.

Joshua Pharo’s lighting becomes a living part of the storytelling — shifting from concealment to revelation, muddying the edges of a scene one moment and sharpening them the next, always giving Holden something tangible to push against. A spotlight lands on an empty microphone as a gag; police strobes whip the stage into a car-chase fantasia. Meanwhile, Giles Thomas’ sound design, often subtly tucked beneath the live music, does equally vital work in animating Holden’s world: one mic becomes a tinny phone receiver; a tape recorder crackles to life mid-scene, giving Holden yet another texture to play off. It’s phenomenal work from the creative team, constantly making it feel as though Holden is never alone on stage.

The set (Anisha Fields) is used with the same imaginative clarity. A single mic is pulled taut to become a rifle. a short flight of stairs becomes the mayor’s office, a judge’s bench, a small-town café. Holden’s physicality fills in the rest. Elliott’s live score and vocals are woven so subtly he sometimes seems to vanish entirely, only to resurface and steer the emotional temperature of the room. His integration is seamless; he isn’t an accompanist so much as an additional narrative organ.

For all its ingenuity, what lingers about Kenrex — and earns its deserved standing ovation — is the confidence with which the piece tells its story. Nothing is wasted, and the invention never feels like decoration: it’s functional storytelling delivered with theatrical wit, the work of a creative team operating at full command of their tools.

Kenrex is a wickedly clever, propulsive and wildly entertaining piece of theatre. It’s the kind of show that reminds you how expansive solo performance can be when craft, character and design lock together with this much precision. A small-town saga becomes a full-scale epic through nothing but light, sound and one performer who seems able to conjure an entire county out of thin air.

KENREX

The Other Palace

Reviewed on 10th December 2025

by Daniel Outis

Photography by Manuel Harlan

Kenrex

CRUISE at the Apollo Theatre

★★★★★

“John Patrick Elliott’s live score throbs beneath the anecdotes in perfect harmony”

Say what you want about the pandemic (and a lot has been said), but in retrospect it is vaguely possible now to glimpse some positive repercussions. And time always has a habit of painting thick coats of nostalgia over past events, so that many of us now recall fondly those empty days of 2020, freed from the guilt that naturally accompanies inactivity, but free to explore undiscovered creativity. One individual who grasped that opportunity by the horns is Jack Holden. A ripple of an idea evolved into a stream (quite literally a live stream – and one which reshaped the burgeoning artform) which in turn evolved into the first new play to open in the West End after lockdown. Its second run comes with rumours of a feature film in development.

Two little gripes to get out the way before continuing. I reviewed the show last year at the Duchess Theatre, and little – if anything – has changed; so it would be easy just to copy and paste. But if the content remains the same, the perception has altered slightly. With the added passage of time, the second-hand nature of Holden’s writing is that much more apparent. His ingenious wordplay and gifted command of the stage remains undisputed, but these are other people’s stories. It went unnoticed before, but now there is a vague sense that the integrity, of one born too late, might be questioned.

The performance does its utmost to silence any reservations, however. The Eighties weren’t Holden’s world, but they are vividly recreated in a whirlwind ninety minutes of sight, sound, song; poetry and prose. The atmosphere and soundscape are spot on, as is Holden’s vocabulary that speaks of a Soho sadly long submerged under the waves of so-called gentrification. Holden is Jack (himself), working a decade ago at ‘Switchboard’; the LGBT+ telephone helpline. Left alone on a Saturday morning in the office he receives a call from Michael. The show becomes Michael’s story – a ‘gay veteran’ who survived, but not without the battle scars and the memories of loved ones lost on the way. We meet his saviour, the barmaid Catherine (Tabby Cat), Lady Lennox who charges just two chats a day for a year’s rent in a Soho townhouse; Fat Sandy, DJ Fingers the Mancunian nutcase, Jacob and Jason – the Nymphs of Greek Street, Polari Gordon and Slutty Dave. The fleshpots and drinking dens (most of which have been killed off, while HIV targeted many of its inhabitants) are brought to sparkling life with a sense of nostalgia that is sometimes overwhelming in Holden’s masterful retelling.

It is a portrayal that is faultless and fearless. Visually unchanging, Holden slips into each character with a finely tuned precision and incredible command of expression and accents. John Patrick Elliott’s live score throbs beneath the anecdotes in perfect harmony. Just as Holden creates the illusion of a crowded stage, Elliott is a one-man orchestra; eclectic, electric, and essential. Prema Mehta’s lighting is, indeed, another member of the cast: an equally evocative voice that helps tell the story.

It is the story of a man given a death sentence who decides to ‘go out with a bang’. Who won’t just ‘face the music’ but will play it. It is the story of a survivor. One who survived first the stigma, then the disease. “We carry on” he says. “What else can we do”. Okay, Holden may be too young for his words to carry the full weight with which they are burdened, but they certainly resonate at a time when we’re recovering from another epidemic.

“Cruise” hits hard. And plays hard too. Hedonistic joy dances with tragedy. Innocence and experience pass in the night. Holden encapsulates a lost generation without mourning it. He acknowledges his nostalgic yearning, and is ultimately grateful that he was ‘born too late’. And he does so with real respect. “Cruise” is an absolute joy. A celebration. A party not to be missed.

Tag Archives: Sarah Golding

KENREX

★★★★★

The Other Palace

KENREX

The Other Palace

★★★★★

“a wickedly clever, propulsive and wildly entertaining piece of theatre”