THE CULTURE - Melbourne

The Culture - Theatre Review

Event: 09/06/2023 - 17/06/2023

A story that leads into a wider conversation

Direct from Off Broadway, The Culture is a smash hit Aussie play set in Sydney, and here for a strictly limited season. Directed by Bethany Caputo, and with a cast of two; writer and performer Laura Jackson as Kate, and Mina Asfour as Will. Welcome to Kate and Will's lounge room. They're two childhood friends who are roommates and besties, and very single. She's a straight white woman, and he, a gay man; they co-host a podcast - 'Don't Get Me Started' where they strip bare their thoughts with their listeners. Their close relationship is tested when new relationships walk in the door with all the dynamics it entails. Inseparable, things change when Kate gets caught in a toxic office relationship, which has ripple effects on Will's own blossoming connection with someone he met online.

This is a play that tackles a whole range of issues that includes phantom fat, insecurities, homophobia, and domestic violence. However, at the heart of this story, it's one of friendship, support, and having each other's∂ backs. Eighty minutes long, see here to get tickets for shows running till Sat 17 June 2023 at 7.30pm (no shows Sunday 11, Monday 12 and Thursday 15 June) at the Explosives Factory, rear laneway at 67 Inkerman Street, St Kilda. It's accessed by Lyell and Market Streets, both off Inkerman. You basically go down the laneway, and either turn left or right into another little laneway, depending on which end you're approaching from.

Cherry Ripe chocolate bars play a big role in comforting any emotional needs Will and Kate may have. Kate basically hurtles into the room upon entry, her effervescent character on display, complete with verbal diarrhoea as she swamps Will with all her thoughts, a run-down of her day and every opinion she has about people, politics and bright ideas. She's just met someone at work called Kale and a bit of playful banter ensues about someone being named after a salad. They do say there's a fine line between love and hate, and soon Kate finds herself dating Kale. Left for long periods at home on his own with Kate off on overnight dates and days of absence from home, Will is encouraged by Kate to put himself out there to look for love.

Looking for love, and their need for acceptance, takes them on a journey they didn't think they'd find themselves on, especially for Kate. Her relationship has slowly evolved into something she's ashamed to let Will into and avoids him at all cost. He will need the strength of Samson (Samson & Delilah) to pull her out of a situation she's not ready to admit to, to convince her she needs his help.

The start of the play is quite chaotic, and fast-talking; though filled with lots of humour. By the end, you begin to understand this was a necessary contrast to the way it ends, to express the depth of emotions and reality it was preparing itself for. Every moment of this production was slowly travelling forward, subtly taking you along on the journey, without you realising it, until it was too late, and you were fully invested to follow it into the darkness. Playwright and performer Laura Jackson delivers her story at a timely pace that gets your full attention. The person you met in the beginning that was feisty and opinionated was no longer there by the end. What felt over the top at the beginning; Laura sobered up with a depth of performance that really touches on a very relevant subject for many women today. Bilingual Jordanian Palestinian multi-disciplinary artist Mina Asfour was the perfect pairing that softened the edges in their partnership.

By the end of the play, Laura and two representatives from Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre step onto the stage and spend a few minutes talking to us about domestic violence, and how even the most intelligent, the unexpected, can get caught out. There are leaflets with QR codes placed on everyone's seats upon entry, via which one could donate. I can only hope, like me, everyone will take the opportunity to help. Laura's poignant story, coupled with the visuals of Laura's clever makeup artist - herself, plus the talk, was powerfully effective in bringing our attention and understanding about what is going on under our noses, and I urge you to help where you can. Below is the image of the QR code, in case you don't go to the play - (but I hope you do, to support live performances and the arts), through which you can access the donation page. It'll take you to the 'sharing' page, so share share share with your friends. Click that out of the way, and you'll find the donation page. Please dig deep and have a heart.

To find out all about this creative young writer and actor who is passionate about what is going on in the world around her and committed and passionate enough to go the distance and share her platform to do something about it, head to her website.

The Culture: Theatre Review

WHAT: The Culture
WHERE: Theatre Works (Explosives Factory)
WHEN: 7 - 17 June 2023
WRITTEN BY: Laura Jackson
DIRECTED BY: Bethany Caputo
PERFORMED BY: Mina Asfour and Laura Jackson
LIGHTING BY: Capri Harris
SOUND BY: Charlotte Leamon
STAGE MANAGED BY: Colleen Willis

Domestic violence has always been a serious problem and right now it is red hot across community support organisations in Melbourne. In Powersuit Productions' play The Culture, currently ending it's international tour at the Explosives Factory in St Kilda the question is asked, 'How do intelligent and insightful people find themselves in these kinds of dangerous situations?'

The Culture, written by Laura Jackson, is a study of a pair of lifelong friends who are torn asunder by domestic violence. They went to school together. They went to Prom together. They live together as housemates. They even podcast and livestream together. The pair have an ease and synergy in their relationship which any romantic couple in the world would dream of having. The fly in the ointment of every best friends drama is the dating scene.

Katie (Jackson) and Will (Mina Asfour) are chaos energy integrated when the play begins. They bounce of each other like electrons and protons hurtling around to make an exciting atom - their podcast and vlog 'Don't Get Me Started'. This pair are woke and put the word active into activists. It's all in fun though. There is the usual blah-de-blah about dating apps which is just enough on the right side of cute to not make you yawn. The depth of their trust does emerge when Will accidently lapses into revealing a dark secret about date violence when he was at school and before he came out as gay.

Meanwhile Katie meets Kale at a bar and he gropes her. Katie is all 'ooh, get out of my face dude' which Will applauds when she recounts the incident at home. In a plot twist, Kale ends up working with Katie and at a work function Katie decides to have drunk sex with him because he is hot. Somehow this drunk sex turns into a relationship.

Over time we watch Katie withdraw from Will, start dressing differently, and they start finding themselves podcasting and vlogging on their own. Will wants his friend back but even Katie's voicemail message becomes replaced by Kale's voice. Katie stops indulging in her Cherry Ripe addiction and the silences between the friends widen just like the physical distance. They literally become ships that pass in the night...until one of Katie's vlogs ends in vision of Kale hitting her to get her to stop.  

This vlog entry turns viral and Will decides it is time to spring into action. He tracks her down and begs her to talk with him. The dilemma he faces and which we all know about is how do you get someone in a domestic violence situation out? How do you get past their sense of shame to reveal what is really going on? How do you help them become safe?

This is an answer nobody has, but The Culture models a fantastic version of friendship and support with which to try regardless of the outcome. The first and most important step, in my opinion, is to stop talking about the victim and start talking about the perpetrator. If you go and see The Culture you will see how it is done and how good it feels to hear those words. Apparently one woman in every three experiences domestic violence so all of these dilemmas should be familiar to the audience.

The script is pacy and well structured although I think it takes too long to get to the relationship with Kale which means there is not really enough time to reveal the development of 'symptoms' of Katie's experiences with Kale. Quote of the year goes to Will saying "We are royalty, he is lettuce!" I was intrigued by the little micro-aggressions Will imposes on Katie along the way. I would have liked this woven into the story a bit stronger because it is another prong in the domestic violence discussion we don't think about or even recognise and it adds a layer of complexity when Will tries to help Katie in her more obvious situation.

The attention to the stage design is impressive although there is no designer credited. My one complaint is the couch had centre stage - the big power position. Nobody has come to see a play about a couch. Most of the really important, insightful stuff happens at the podcast nook so it would be a much stronger set up if that was centre stage. Director Bethany Caputo really needs to consider this next time. The sound (Charlotte Leamon) really is quite perfect and the lighting (Capri Harris) is great.

Jackson and Asfour are energised and agile actors and really bring to life a friendship we all dream of. As I said earlier though, perhaps the biggest flaw in the play is that too much time is spent establishing this friendship and going for the laughs, which means the real story doesn't have the time or space to reveal itself in the creeping way it really happens. Towards the end of the play all the bad stuff is just thrown at us. This is powerful but, for me, it caused me to become detached rather than drawn in.

The Culture is a wonderful piece of theatre telling an important story and doing it very, very well. Also, they are partnering with Safe Steps and will match donations up to a $2000 cap which is another reason to see the show and learn more about this hideous epidemic which is so hard to bring out of the shadows.

4 Stars

The Culture (Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory) – theatre review

11 June, 2023

By Alex First

Will (Mina Asfour) and Katie (Laura Jackson) are millennial best friends who live together. Both single (Will is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and Katie is straight), each looking to find their perfect match. Most of the time they have fun together, which includes hosting a popular podcast – “Don’t Even Get Me Started” – where they talk about their lives.

Then Katie falls for the new guy at work, Kale (who is referenced frequently, but we don’t see), who Will doesn’t think is right for her. But, in no time, Katie and Kale are inseparable and the distance between Katie and Will grows. They row. At the same time, Will falls for Kale’s mate, who hasn’t come out yet. Both romantic relationships

are fraught, but Katie’s turns particularly nasty as Kale turns out to be controlling, manipulative and violent.

While starting out as lightweight, humorous fare, The Culture deals with several serious and, unfortunately, all too real issues. These include domestic violence, misogyny, homophobia and eating disorders. On the former, the sobering fact is that one in three women have experienced physical violence. I dare say Katie speaks for many when she says she never thought it would be her.

While tackling vitally important subjects, it still took me some time to warm to The Culture. The language used early on is that of a certain generation and a number of the exchanges between Will and Katie appeared trivial. That is notwithstanding the fact that there is a scene between the pair at the start when Katie sets the wheels in motion. She is developing a marketing pitch for her boss on a new shapewear product. She challenges Will to name public figures that have delivered addresses involving sexism.

I understand that the relationship between Will and Katie had to be established before the heavier part of the narrative took over. Still, I felt the play needed tightening. Laura Jackson began writing the piece in 2014 and has developed it since. Driven by youthful exuberance and the search for the illusive Mr Right, there is a welcome authenticity about Jackson and Asfour’s performances.

The busy set, which doubles as the couple’s apartment, works well. The action moves between food preparation in the kitchen, the couch, the dressing room and an area where the pair usually record their podcast. Text message exchanges, which are part of the storyline, are projected onto

the back wall of the theatre.

It is important to note that the reservations I have expressed in no way diminish the impact of the work as a conversation starter. I venture to suggest that is the whole point of The Culture. Directed by Carly Fisher, it is playing at Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory until 17th June, 2023.

Alex First