The story is loosely based on writer/director Paul Middletech's experiences growing up in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, during the 80's.
Foreskin's Lament, a play by Greg McGee mentioned in the movie, is well known in New Zealand theater. The inner dynamics of a university rugby team are explored via the themes of fair play versus winning no matter what. It compares the values of the university with the more conservative values of many of the team's players, putting masculinity under scrutiny and is seen as a definitive critique of macho rugby culture. It was produced during the unrest of the South African Springbok Tour and won Best New Zealand Play in 1981. A film version was released in 2003 under the title Skin and Bone.
The 1981 Springbok Tour is the name of the protests across New Zealand against the South African rugby team, the Springboks, participation in rugby matches during Apartheid when they were barred from playing by many nations at the time. They were banned from the Olympics from 1964 to 1992 and their all white team came to represent the oppressive minority rule by whites in South Africa. In 1981 after leaving New Zealand, protests continued in the United States where they played in matches there.
Julian Dennison and Byron Coll both appeared in Shopping (2013).
At the assembly the hostess claims to not have an Adam's apple. In fact, both men and women possess the prominentia laryngea, it is just far less pronounced if not discernible at all in women.