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Cultural Differences by Colin Lewisohn

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Colin Lewisohn's powerful drama, part of a "People and Politics" trilogy, centred on Jo (Jennifer Banks), a mature student who comes to read sociology at the fictional Moore College, Cambridge, only to be propositioned sexually by her 'personal' tutor Mike Dennis (Warwick St. John).  Jo discovers that she is not the only female freshman to suffer the experience - apparently Dennis has a predeliction for offering 'personal' treatment.  If his victims refuse, then he vows to ruin their university careers.
 
Jo's case is taken up by Tom (Martim Cusworth), and Declan (Hugh Simpson), the secretary and president of the studentrs' union.  They put their points to college principal Jack Hodges (Steve Arloff), who promises to investigate.  However things are not as simple as they might appear: Dennis denies Jo's accusation and implies that she is a racist.  As the only African-Caribbean lecturer in the college, Dennis has a point, and Hodges knows it.  Dennis' case is taken up by the college's association for black students, who embark on a head-to-head conflict with Tom and Declan at a union meeting.
 
Cultural Differences emphasizes just how difficult it is to separate 'truth' from 'lies' - especially when people of different skin colour and cultural backgrounds are involved.  Set in the mid-1980s, the play evokes a world where students politics were far more militant than they are today.  Despite Tom amd Declan's determination to seek justice for Jo, they find themselves enmeshed in a conflict of ideologies, involving racist and sexist issues, which ultimately cannot be resolved.  They end up having to accept a compromise that no one is very happy with.
 
Directed as well as written by Lewisohn, and performed with total conviction by a cast of eight, Cultural Differences proved an unsettling experience.