Reviewed by Jodi Yeats

The brainchild of Smackbang producer Tainui Tuikiwaho and the hard graft of writer Albert Belz, Raising the Titanics is a great idea – a tribute to Maori show bands of the 1960s, well rendered.

Reviewed by Jodi Yeats

The brainchild of Smackbang producer Tainui Tuikiwaho and the hard graft of writer Albert Belz, Raising the Titanics is a great idea – a tribute to Maori show bands of the 1960s, well rendered.

A trip down memory lane to New Zealand in the 1960s, with a focus on songs, could easily have been corny, but thanks to a really well written script, gifted actors and the experienced direction of Raymond Hawthorne, Raising the Titanics is nostalgic in all the right ways.

I particularly enjoyed a scene where Miriama McDowell’s character, Maria, is on trial to join the band, not least by Ripeka (Bronwyn Turei) the only woman up to that point. Maria has to jump into a Rinso ad The Titanics are recording and there’s only time for a single take. Of course, she plays her part to a tee and it was a hilarious reminder that all voices on TV in the 1960s enunciated beautifully in the Queen’s English.

The storyline follows journalist Aroha Devine (Faye Smythe) as she tries to solve the mystery of why her parents’ band broke up in Saigon in the 1960s. Aroha’s mother, Ripeka, and her father, who was the band’s drummer and manager, Louis Devine, now run a karaoke bar in south Auckland.

As Aroha interviews the band members, she draws them back into each other’s lives for the first time since Saigon. Her investigations lead her to the heart of a mystery of her own life – why her father has never proposed to her mother.

The Titanics weren’t a real band but are inspired by the Maori showband entertainers, including Howard Morrison, Prince Tui Te Teka, Dalvaneus, Billy T James, and band like the Volcanics and the Quin Tikis.

Thanks to the multitalented cast, musical direction by John Gibson and a couple of songs written by Tama Waipara, the songs are the real stars of the show.

Of course the period lends itself to fabulous 1960s shifts and thanks in part to costume designer Maria Kingi, the girls exude glamour, with awesome hairdos, such as beehives, topping it off. Choreography by Vicky Haughton is excellent.

Any review wouldn’t be complete without a mention of the band’s male stars the Pourou twins, Api (Waipara) and Zeke (Francis Kora) who ham it up beautifully when Levine discovers them at the Ruatoria pub, describing themselves as “hoohaa blimmin country bumpkins”. Of course both are talented musicians, singers and charismatic entertainers.

As Hawthorne said at opening night, “writing is purgatory” and Belz masterfully moves the story through twists and turns, with frequent diversions into song, to a conclusion that left me with a smile on my face and a tear in my eye.

Raising the Titanics is performing in the Taonga Whakaari: Maori Playwrights Festival at the Hawkins Theatre Papakura on 1 and 2 July at 12.30pm and 7.30 pm and 3 July at 7.30pm

Bookings at Ticketek (0800 Ticketek or www.ticketek.co.nz)