I don’t know how to begin a review of a show that made me feel virtually every emotion on the planet. Never have I laughed so much or felt so uncomfortable (in a good way) at the same time! This is all kudos to one fantastically crafted production. Written and performed by Laura Jackson as Katie, The Culture explores – through the close friendship of Katie and Will (the humorous Mina Asfour) – the dangers of romance in the modern world. Every word has been crafted for maximum impact. We get an intimate view of this dynamic duo, an ambitious woman and a gay man who take us on a journey of finding love that becomes all too real. So visceral, so captivating.

The lighting design (Capri Harris) and sound design (Charlotte Leamon) allow us to seamlessly flow from Katie and Will’s lounge to the wider Sydney area. This show translates well onto New Zealand soil; particularly because of how relevant the themes are to us. It finds a perfect balance of telling an important story beautifully interwoven with comedy and seriousness.

The Culture is an important conversation piece that all need to see for the way it addresses partner violence. People need to become aware of how real this is, how it is quite literally happening under our noses. What’s scary is I don’t know who I know that has gone or will go through this. What’s even scarier is I might know or be friends with the perpetrators of such actions. One-third of women in New Zealand have experienced partner violence to date. This show brings voice to the voiceless. It empowers those who are faced with such events that it is okay to stand up for yourself; it shines a light on something that is seldom spoken about or seen by others.

This piece moves me. I know that I will be thinking about it for weeks to come, and I hope that anyone who gets a chance to watch it will. The Culture is not to be missed.

Review: The Culture -

March 1, 2023

By Nadia Freeman

The Culture, starts before the performers come on stage with a montage of video footage of news articles on systemic and political misogyny. This sets the scene for the everyday ways women are disadvantaged that are so embedded, that they often go unnoticed.

The newsfeed soon fades out, the lights come up, and Will and Katie are straight into dialogue with Katie’s latest plan for a marketing pitch at work. Straight away we get a feel for her as a confident, strong-minded and adventurous person. She has ambitions about getting a promotion and even being a political leader. Will is the ever-supportive best friend, constantly encouraging, providing realistic feedback and knowing just the right way to make fun of her without bringing her down. The banter between Will and Katie and the little idiosyncrasies that they share, such as a love of Cherry Ripe bars (a confectionary not commonly found in New Zealand but is as divisive as marmite) is what sets the audience into feeling part of the relationship they have. The two have been friends since high school, and their friendship is akin to siblings or platonic lovers.

The integration of Will and Katie’s podcast episodes and projected displays of the text conversations and reels was an exceptionally clever way to provide momentum to the story. The set was ideal and I particularly liked the two wardrobes that hung left and right of the rear as I was immediately struck by how pink Katie’s wardrobe is. This is a person who REALLY likes pink. The symbolism of her colour taste becomes clearer as Katie’s story develops.

Laura Jackson’s writing is hilarious and the acting of both performers is fantastic. We spend a lot of the first half of the performance laughing along with Katie and Will as if we are part of their clique. This humour is an important tool when talking about heavy topics such as misogyny and violence. But even so, embedded in this humour is toxicity in itself, an important nuance as we are all affected by ‘the culture’ we live in.

The culture demonstrates different forms of control we can be subjected to including co-dependence, power and control, emotional abuse and violence in a very real way. By making Will and Katie relatable it perfectly curates a series of events that could happen to anyone. This is the most important part of The Culture. When Katie says ‘I didn’t think this could happen to me.’ ‘I judged other women.’ It brings home how it is very easy to ‘other’ people impacted by abuse when in fact one in three women are subjected to it and every second week in New Zealand a woman is killed by partner violence.

This is not a new story. It is a story that repeats itself in art and commentary again and again. Just as it does in the society we live in and for this reason, The Culture is an extremely important show. Until we eradicate the disease of violence in our communities then stories like this will need to be retold.

As someone who works in violence prevention, I feel inclined to raise that Katie’s story is just one example. Not all victims of abuse have the support Katie does due to repeated returns to partners, challenges with court systems, the way trauma can affect people’s behaviour, victims are often alienated. And while this story has rightly focussed on the victim, there is a need for the voice of perpetrators in stories of violence too, as many users of violence have been victims themselves in the past and there is a movement to guide perpetrators through healing and change that is extremely important to violence prevention.

From strong social commentary on multiple topics including male violence, sexism, homophobia, co-dependence, and eating disorders, to many laughs and love. The culture has ambitiously packed a lot of content into 75 minutes. Make sure you make the time for it.

The culture has generously used the platform of this show to raise the profile of Woman’s Refuge and Te Whare Rokiroki and take donations for them.

THE CULTURE - New Zealand Fringe Festival

Review by John Smythe 02nd Mar 2023

Zeros in on an abiding issue that constantly needs to be called out

The publicity for this Australian production – written by Laura Jackson, directed by Bethany Caputo, produced by Carly Fisher – leads with this:

“What do you call it when a woman threads her keys through her fingers on the walk to her car?
“What do you call it when a man is catfished because of his sexual orientation?
“What do you call it when he breaks her property, isolates her, and gives her a black eye?

“We call it ‘The Culture’.”

As we take our seats at The Gryphon, Australian TV clips amplifying toxic masculine culture are playing on a monitor. We are all set for a dramatic take down of the culture that has plagued us forever on both sides of the Tasman.

It’s a surprise, then, when we find ourselves feeling like a live TV audience watching what looks and feels like a couple of episodes of a half hour sitcom featuring a straight woman and her gay male flatmate who have been BFFs since high school: “You and me against the world, baby!”.

Sure they pick up the theme by impersonating high profile people from Julia Gillard to Alan Jones, for the other to guess. It’s a fun game and it’s clear they are woke (I’m not using that word pejoratively – it’s a socio-political orientation I align with).  

Katie (Laura Jackson) works in advertising and practices a pitch to Will (Mina Asfour) – for what I’m unsure because she’s given to talking very fast and running words together, and when passages are also fuelled with hype, OMG energy or excitement, key words get lost. Anyway, Will thinks the pitch is really good idea but asks if it’s too angry. Is this a red flag?

The domestic scenes are intercut with the couple’s live podcast posts on their ‘Don’t Even Get Me Started’ YouTube feed. Yes, they’re influencers sharing their experiences to a loyal fanbase. There’s a bit of jostling over who gets to tell their story first and Will’s one about a man in a bar gets to precede Katie’s about a work do where a “giant dude” mate of her boss, Dave, turns up. And something brushes her arse.

It turns out “giant dude” has joined the advertising firm and is all too cosy with Dave, who has rejected Katie’s pitch. But as the glimpses of toxic masculinity keep surfacing, there are things about this couple that start to niggle, like Katie’s dominance over Will (later he says she “wears the pants”), their ridiculing of “giant dude’s” name – Kale Brown (is that his fault?), Will’s criticism of Katie’s wardrobe (although it is mostly pink with a touch of mauve). But hey, puritanical judgementalism is toxic in itself, right? We’re all human. Relax.

There’s the obligatory sortie into dating apps – Tinder, Grinder, et al – and a related game with fruit that they play on their podcast. And when Katie talks Will into coming to their Halloween work do, he dresses as Voldemort and she as a giant vulva. Some of us may wonder what’s scary about that while others know it will freak men out.

It turns out our inner questioning of what we behold is a key part of the production.

The turning point comes when Katie gets off with guess who, with clear carnal intentions – and does not come home until late-afternoon the next day. And her phone goes straight to message. What’s a BFF since high school to do? Well, their next podcast solo, for one thing – a rant about his dislike of the bar scene.

Whether or not you’ve seen it coming or empathise with Katie’s choice – isn’t that what liberation is all about? – she does not deserve the fate that befalls her. No-one does, ever. Initially our fears for her are offset by Will’s reaction to being abandoned, not to mention her rejection of his desire to protect her. Then what are we to make of it when Katie starts posting domestic goddess type podcasts, and getting lots of approval from fans?

The quest for free will as a minefield is laid out here for us to navigate in empathy with both Katie and Will – until the evidence becomes incontrovertible. Then comes the question of what to do about it, confronting each of us with a ‘what would you do?’ moment. As Katie does, we get to check our own complacent beliefs that we’re woke.

Although, at 80 minutes, it could lose 10 minutes from the first 50, The Culture does zero in on an abiding issue that constantly needs to be called out. And rather than preaching to the converted, this play makes us turn the lens on ourselves to excellent effect.

Copyright © belongs to the reviewer

Direct From New York, The Culture, A New Australian Play, Tours New Zealand And Australia In 2023

Friday, 10 February 2023 | Press Release

After a successful debut run in New York, Sydney based theatre company, Powersuit Productions is bringing their brand-new Australian work home this year, to tour across Australia and New Zealand. Upcoming playwright, Laura Jackson has penned a touching and relevant two hander play called The Culture. The play is a story about deep and enduring friendship, and the pitfalls… and sometimes dangers of finding love in a modern world.

Set in Sydney Australia, the play follows the story of best friends Katie and Will who are roommates, childhood friends, podcast hosts and very single. The Culturetackles their search for romantic love and demonstrates that sometimes even those with the strongest convictions can lose themselves easily in complex new relationships. Their two very different experiences as a gay man, and a straight white woman take them through falling in love, the complexities of handling domestic violence with a loved one and ultimately test their friendship. The warmth and intimate banter between two best friends welcomes audiences into Will and Katie’s living room and into an important wider conversation.

Laura said, “Will and Katie are inseparable. Or so they thought. When Katie draws away from Will, caught in the web of a toxic relationship, Will has to put aside his own hurt, and draw on the history and the love between them to bring her safely home. We’re not afraid to tackle some tough issues including domestic violence, homophobia, and disordered eating, but at its heart this is a story about friendship. About support. About looking out for the people we love. We’re also addressing important themes with a light touch. Expect lots of laughs, a few surprises, and an ending that packs a punch.”

Critically acclaimed in New York, the production was praised for being "A spunky, fast-talking, take no prisoners twosome...Wonderful, timely, and poignant." (The Front Row Centre, NYC)

The tour will begin at the New Zealand Fringe Festival in Wellington and then continue back on home ground in Australia as part of Holden Street Theatres’ curated Adelaide Fringe Festival season. Hobart, Sydney and Melbournedates have too been announced, with the production suggesting more dates will be released for late 2023 and 2024 in due course.

True to Powersuit Productions’ mission, The Culture features an exciting and strong lineup of female-identifying creatives at the helm of this production, including Jackson, Carly Fisher as Creative Producer and Tour Director, Natalie Low as Stage Manager, Capri Harris as Lighting Designer, Charlotte Leamon as Sound Designer and Catherine Fargher as Dramaturg.

By Jenny Nimon | 2/3/2023

Powersuit Productions’ touring show The Culture written by Laura Jackson is a warm and pacey inside view to the relationship of two flatmates as they navigate their past traumas and dating in the modern world. It is billed as ‘a story about deep and enduring friendship’, and it’s exciting to be able to sit in on the New Zealand debut of this Sydney-set production.

​The audience filters in to a reel of video clips being projected onto the back wall, and they are familiar moments – Jacinda Ardern’s response to a reporter asking if she met with Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin because of their closeness in age is one that sticks out to The Culture’s first Wellington audience. The pattern of misogyny in the footage is quickly apparent and sets the stage for the sexism and homophobia that Katie (Jackson) and Will (Mina Asfour) are about to endure. The set design is simple and evokes an apartment, which is all it really needs to do: there’s a couch, a side table, some stools and two clothes racks – one for each character, respectively (Katie is definitely fond of the colour pink).

Jackson and Asfour have brilliant chemistry, so brilliant in fact that I am shocked to discover that Asfour is the second person to play Will (the role was previously performed by Mansoor Noor). These two are so comfortable with each other that I could believe they were flatmates or best friends in real life; there’s huge energy and charisma there, and the show is so fast-paced that at times it feels difficult to keep up, though not in a bad way – they are out living their lives and are not about to stop and accommodate us. 

We watch them recording podcasts and livestreams, playing around on dating apps and attending work functions dressed as Voldemort and a vulva. It’s light, it’s funny; it might be the only way to stay sane when faced with chronic misogyny and homophobia. Everything is there in terms of delivery, but I would like to see more depth of character. These characters very much lean into the stereotype of ‘bossbabe white girl and her gay best friend’, and it would be good to get a bit more nuance from the relationship. The pair come off as disingenuous and emotionally immature, and it’s hard to tell if this is something the show is aware of and is satirising or if it’s something that slipped into the writing by accident. That said, the slow unravelling of their relationship works incredibly well. The show is structured around their routine as friends and flatmates, so we get to see the ways in which their ‘givens’ begin to falter and their needs stop being met.

At about the two-thirds mark, the show takes a drastic turn. We move from a story about friendship and existing traumas at the hands of the patriarchy (workplace sexism, homophobia, eating disorders, etc. etc.) to a full-blown domestic violence narrative, and it comes from left field. For me, this feels like a classic case of a team trying to force two shows’ worth of material into one, and the result is, again, not enough nuance. These are huge subjects, and they deserve to be given space and explored in full – not crammed into a melodramatic final 15–20 minutes of a show. The Culture has a huge amount of presence and potential, but it does itself a disservice by trying to be everything. There’s only so much that you can hope to achieve in an hour.

Powersuit Productions is definitely a team worth looking out for, even if just for their energy alone, but I hope that future productions will explore themes like these with more depth, care and complexity. 

The Culture is showing at the Gryphon Theatre at 8:30pm until Saturday 4 March before continuing to tour across Australia.