Be Like Billy? Well, keep your eye on that question mark, because it is indeed the entire point of this great ‘showmance’!

Rutene Spooner, we hope it felt like a homecoming performance for you, with whānau and friends present, because that’s exactly what we experienced in the audience last night. What could be a more fitting setting than the Tairāwhiti Arts Festival and the intimate Lawson Field Theatre to stage such a personal show? Anticipation and expectations were high, and we were ready to be entertained!

Jokes about local kōhanga, garage party addresses, and your aunties resonate perfectly with the appreciative and familiar crowd. With his game face—and voice—on, he brings those stories to life. And here lies the first of many dualities that Be Like Billy? explores: the personal journey alongside the public persona. 

We catch autobiographical glimpses of a young Spooner—humble and hopeful—on his journey to make it from the kōhanga floor to international stages, in any way possible as a performer. This is juxtaposed by absolute showstoppers, where he emulates his Māori performance heroes—a brief history of the Māori performer, if you will. It’s evident how much Spooner admires and respects these legends, with his accents, intonations and gestures executed so accurately and powerfully. We’re instantly transported aboard the nostalgia train, rose-tinted glasses and all. Who doesn’t love Billy T James’ newsreader character? Howard Morrison’s ‘Whakaaria Mai’? Why wouldn’t a young Māori singer aspire to be just like them?

Spooner has learned from the best. With powerful singing in various styles, dialects and accents, impeccable comedic timing, hilarious improvisation and audience participation (nice moves, Uncle Api), he captivates the crowd. He masterfully balances quiet moments with loud ones, impersonation with honesty. He is, without a doubt, an Entertainer.

And that is how we are made complicit. Through the shared joy, sing-alongs and snickers at some old-school, not-so-PC humour, we are brought together. The fabulous Te Kīra Muttonbirds and the simple yet brilliant lighting really amplify the celebratory vibe. Credit to the technical crew for that crisp, robust sound. Spooner’s on-stage costume changes and makeup reveal every character shift and joke. It’s a laugh a second—until it isn’t.

From the highs to the ‘yuck’, Spooner reminds us of the cost of performance, especially comedy, paid for by the performer. The static VHS recordings of Billy T James, which had us giggling moments earlier, take a darker turn. Billy T James—so much a product of his time—crafted jokes for a hungry audience. But at whose expense? Rutene Spooner—a man of our time—now challenges us, as a modern audience, with a wero: to know better and do better. We can continue to admire our icons, but finding an authentic voice and entertaining with it is what truly makes one iconic.

Be Like Billy? Be like Rutene.

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Rutene Spooner is a prodigiously talented performer and his solo show (plus band) Rutene Spooner’s Be Like Billy? currently gracing the Tokomanawa stage at Te Pou Theatre, is a tour de force. Spooner takes us on a wonderfully recognisable journey of self-discovery from the kid who, at age nine, does everything his nanny tells him, through to his many attempts to be someone else, up to (and including) today where he has shaken off the tiresome, brain-sapping, and debilitating Māori performance stereotypes and is shamelessly himself.

The show is moving, it’s funny, and if I dare besmirch the memory of the great man, he’s ten times the artist Billy T James ever was. The passing of time helps and thank the goddess we don’t do any of that ‘three chord hori from the cozzie club’ shtick anymore.

At least I hope we don’t.

At one point late in the piece, Spooner zips us through the litany of the great changes that have brought us to where we are today – how we’ve gone from letting the colonisers beat our tamariki and our rangatahi for speaking the Reo through to having five minutes on TV, then fifteen minutes, then whole programmes, and ultimately an entire Māori channel presented in Te Reo Māori, then through the fraught journey to Te Reo Māori becoming an official language spoken by our mainstream news broadcasters, the establishment of Te Pāti Māori, the celebration nationwide (but not universally) of Oriini Kaipara, the first Māori woman with moko kauae to read the TV news who, as a self-confessed nerd, has gone on to become the New Zealand Olympic Committee’s new Pouwhiringa Māori culture lead, then to listening to fluent speakers on all sides in the Pāremata, to the successful Foreshore and Seabed Protests, and to our blunt refusal as a country to no longer accept visiting sports teams selected on segregated lines.

It’s a long list of which this white honky is immensely proud.

Spooner rattles off the achievements like Daniel Radcliffe singing Tom Lehrer’s ‘The Elements’ and he is to me, in that moment, the proud personal embodiment of each and every triumph. His journey from being someone else to being who he is today is bookended by the achievements of those who have enabled him to be Rutene Spooner, a proud Māori man of note.

Ehara taku toa, he takitahi, he toa takitini.

Rutene Spooner’s Be Like Billy? is about finding yourself, connecting with who you really are, being who you really are, it’s about being authentic. This isn’t an easy journey for Spooner – or anyone – because the vehicle used to share this message is itself an artifice – performance might well be the greatest deception of all so how can we trust that what we’re seeing is the truth.

The internet encourages each of us in this, it says ‘be yourself, everyone else is taken’.

I like this, base my life on it.

Mostly the quote is attributed to Oscar Wilde. Sometimes the line is adapted slightly to read ‘be yourself, everyone else is already taken’ and again it is ascribed to Wilde.

While Wilde said a lot about identity, Quote Investigator tells us that there is no substantive evidence that Oscar Wilde said any of this. It is not listed in “The Wit & Wisdom of Oscar Wilde”, an extensive collection compiled by quotation expert Ralph Keyes, so if not Wilde, then who?

Did Wilde say anything about being yourself? I so wanted it to be him. I’m clutching at straws now.

In 1882. Wilde, while discussing the principles of aesthetics, did say ‘one’s real life is so often the life that one does not lead’, and in 1890 in The True Function and Value of Criticism, Wilde refers to the complex relationship between masks and honesty: ‘man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.’

Not helpful, online sources, not helpful at all.

In 1895, via his play An Ideal Husband, Wilde’s character Sir Robert Chiltern asked Mrs. Cheveley whether she is an optimist or a pessimist. She replies that she is neither and that both stances are merely poses. Chiltern then suggests ‘you prefer to be natural then’ to which Mrs Cheveley replies ‘sometimes, but it is such a very difficult pose to keep up.’

Still nothing from Wilde to support a need to just be who we are.

Wilde finally revisits authenticity in his last work De Profundis written while in prison and published after his death: ‘it is tragic how few people ever ‘possess their souls’ before they die. It is quite true. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.’

Pretty definitive, then. It seems fair to assume that, despite a strong desire for Wilde to have said just be who you are, he didn’t, as far as can be determined.

For the sake of conclusion, for a connecting of the dots, I ask the Web who did guide us towards making this profound life choice?

The earliest evidence appears in The Hudson Review in 1967 where spiritual sage Thomas Merton wrote ‘in an age where there is much talk about “being yourself” I reserve to myself the right to forget about being myself, since in any case there is very little chance of my being anybody else.’ Merton goes on to vigorously caution against trying to be oneself, rather, as it turns out, Wilde had done.

So where does this leave us seekers? Nowhere really, because when ‘be yourself, everyone else is already taken’ was finally tracked down, it was to a 1996 Usenet group with no attribution given.

Do I care? Does Mr Spooner?

Seemingly not, because we know that the theatre is ultimately a subjective artform and that performance is only as real as an audience chooses to allow it to be. Rutene Spooner says he has become himself and stopped being someone else and I believe him because he makes a good case, and I desperately want it to be true.

Moving right along.

The Kōanga Festival website invites us to join ‘award-winning entertainer Rutene Spooner as he celebrates show-band legacy, idolises the greatest Māori showman, and tussles with the future of Māori in entertainment. Featuring the flashest southern showband The Tekīra Mutton Birds, Be Like Billy? strums up all new and original waiata, garage party classics, and old-school hits from the likes of Uncle Howie, The Prince of Jandels, and Te legend, Te master, Te chuckling funny-fala. Be Like Billy? is everything but an impersonation show. Can you Be Like Billy without being the butt of the joke? Rutene Spooner’s Be Like Billy? was originally commissioned by The Court Theatre, produced by Metro Māori Productions and presented as part of the PANNZ (Performing Arts Network of New Zealand) touring programme.’

There’s a lot to unpack in that statement and, in retrospect, the clues are all there. A big ‘well done’ to the Court Theatre in Ōtautahi Christchurch, my birthplace and long-time hometown. I have been known, only half-jokingly, to refer to it as ‘the white power capital of the universe’ so this is a massive leap to the left for them. The ever-capable Gregg Cooper is the Script Advisor, Spooner is a graduate of NASDA, and loyalties certainly run deep in the Garden City. Good for them.

The full house signs are up and, in my opinion, should remain so for the entire short season. Get in now if you haven’t already. This show will knock your socks off in every way.

It comes more than highly recommended.

Spooner enters and is funny from the first moment. He wins us over with his timing and the nature of his storytelling. He’s right in our faces. We want to know what happened when his Nan got him to accompany waiata with his three chords at her early childhood kura. He convinces us that he isn’t very good on the ‘Māori mandolin’, then proves himself wrong by being so damned excellent. He has his own showband – of course he does – Tekīra Mutton Birds. He’s good, but they’re even better than he is. Henare Kaa, Jack Bubb, Heather Webb (oh, to ever be that good), and Clayton Hiku, along with Rutene, channel everyone from the Māori Hi-Fives, Māori Volcanics, the Quin Tikis, Herma Keil and the Keil Isles, The Howard Morrison Quartet, Dalvanius Prime and the Fascinations, and soloists Prince Tui Teka, Frankie Stevens, and John Rowles. Rutene’s mighty delivery of ‘Whakaaria Mai’ (‘How Great Thou Art’) in the voice of Uncle Howie is a special highlight and the applause lasts for absolutely ages.

The journey through Rutene’s career to date has the audience buzzing so it’s a shock to hear a gross male voice interject from the audience during his Billy T impersonation, and to repeat the action again, and then again. Even though we know it is pre-planned, it tears the tone of the evening right in half and it’s clear that it won’t recover, will never be the same.

But it does all happen again, his time on tour with the Modern Māori Quartet, crude racist expectations from a photographer that motivate an important epiphany. ‘Do that thing with your eyes’, ‘poke your tongue out’. I want to hide under my seat.

That’s it, though, no more. No more face pulling, no more impersonations, no more ‘happy Hori with jokes and songs for popular consumption’, time to find Rutene Spooner, and to be Rutene Spooner.

I breathe a sigh of relief. Bugger Oscar Wilde, we’ll find ourselves by ourselves! At times, it’s a rugged pathway for Spooner, even director Holly Chappelle- Eason says, ‘it’s a punch in the guts that feels like home’. I should have listened.

Rutene does find himself, he’s wonderful, we love that he made it, we love him for it, and suddenly it’s over. A kura group in the audience let rip a great haka, Festival Director Amber Curreen gives the best curtain speech I’ve ever heard, and it’s out to the foyer for a kai. A whānau consensus? The best fry bread ever! Ngāpuhi has spoken.

Seriously though, it’s a really great evening and it’s a really great show. Rutene Spooner is a fine performer and his show is outstanding. It’s funny and it’s moving. It drags oldies like me back in time, lets me cringe with embarrassment at some of the memories, and makes me so very, very proud of how far we’ve come.

Be Māori. Live our values. Speak our reo. Care for our mokopuna, our awa, our maunga. Be Māori all day, every day. 

That’s as good as it gets, of course, it’s a fabulous invocation (someone tell Erica Stanford who today removed $30m from a programme teaching teachers to speak Te Reo. Not everyone got the memo).

Special acknowledgement of Molloy’s lighting design and operation, they’re always good but have excelled themselves on this one.

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer

This show is for anyone who loves a good cabaret!

Rutene Spooner is charming and charismatically funny as he addresses and welcomes the audience with pizazz and flair, and even includes an audience ‘aunty’ – much to her and the audience’s delight – and boy can he SING!!

The standard musical introductions of The Tekira Mutton Birds, the Be Like Billy? Band, is so old-school and entertaining as each band member perform their own wee dance move as part of their intro. They are all visible on stage, but set behind streamlined lighting on structures similar to flash scaffolding.

There are wonderful cameo performances as Spooner gives homage to our Māori legends: Sir Howard Morrison, Prince Tui Teka and of course Billy T James. And again, to the absolute sing-along joy of the audience, it is indeed a crooner’s world, and the audience are right there with Spooner as he celebrates and honours the pathways these legends left behind.

The flip side is, that as the 70minute show progresses, the vibe very quickly becomes somewhat solemn, as the title of the show impacts with deeper meaning. Original material and recordings from Billy T James’ time now mean something else and the silence from the audience is filled with reflection.

Spooner takes us on the journey of a Billy T impersonator which ends up with the question “Actually, what kind of entertainer is Rutene?” being asked, due to the impact of what went before.  

We learn that his first performance was at his Nan’s kohanga reo – nine years old and barely able to play the three chords (A/D/E) that would become the base of every song sung at the many garage parties in his life, and become the base structure of his musical career. The repetition of this song throughout the show is beautiful – especially his very last rendition – and heart strings are pulled when he soulfully reminds us “kaua e patu i ngā mokopuna” (do not abuse/hit children).

He is grateful and humble as he thanks the ancestors on whose shoulders he stands, and lovingly announces that this show is a love letter to his young daughter, but it would also be wonderful if there was room for more about Spooner himself and his own journey as an artist/performer/creative, within this show. Just a little something more…

On the technical/production side, it is with luck that the style of the show can mask what appears to be problematic. The wayward spotlight at first seems like it might be a gag – especially after Spoonder “calls” it up to put him in light – but then random moments throughout the show (like Spooner’s pant legs being lit for quite a while when he is delivering text) come across as mistakes.

Also, it feels like Spooner loses his earpiece (or is it just a prop?) several times, but there is one moment he seems to lose his place in the text/storytelling. It is the uncertainty of these moments which makes them feel like errors as opposed to being part of the performance, because he is such an amazing performer and a wonderful presence on stage.

But also, in saying that, it is indeed keeping in the style of Cabaret – a direct conversation with the audience, with a more ‘off-the-cuff’ feel as opposed to it being a strictly rehearsed and polished show.

Do go and see Be Like Billy? if you get the chance – not just for fun and entertainment, but for Spooner’s superb performance and thought-provoking content.

How wonderful he got to bring the tour to Rotorua – so well-known as the home of the Māori show bands.

Wishing Spooner, The Tekira Mutton Birds and their crew a great tour!

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The punctuation says it all for the premiere production of this commissioned piece. The eye quickly conveys the idea of the iconic Billy T James before taking in the implications of a question mark. Thus from the start we are in interesting territory for theatre: the land of exploration.

The audience roars approval as it responds to an unorthodox entry from solo performer Rutene Spooner and onstage, the vigorous Te Kira Muttonbirds. His opening shots that he has to wear his ‘tangi shoes’ and that we are here to engage with a ‘brown fella taking the piss’ seem all to be on cue.

We think we know where this is going. Lots of laughs with an occasional frisson of embarrassment if the gentle scalpel is too close to some bone. There is no shortage of energy. The pace is rattling along nicely, band and performer are as one. It’s time for ‘What happens next?’

The natural comfortable place is first steps, before ‘Billy T’ even came into it. The musicianship from learning 3 guitar chords in time to accompany his kura for singing, to the ‘school’ of the garage party and responses to jazz, to Māori showbands and that famous quartet, all goes the merry way of tuneful entertainment. A good time is being had by all as long as everyone understands the game and Rutene Spooner plays the role of cheeky, cheerful entertainer with great charm and talent to spare.

Enter the question mark, reminiscent of the sad clown behind the painted smile. When the (staged) audience throws offensive comments, or all that posing for promotion undermines the genuine performer, dishing out ‘warm fuzzies’ to be gobbled up by an unthinking public, it is both hurtful and exhausting. Billy T has us laughing with him rather than at him, but being part of the game where comedy is the default perspective may no longer be enough. The most moving part of his performance for me comes when Rutene Spooner positions himself in a wider frame.

Times have changed, theatre making has changed and perhaps we are at last ready for different insights on the stage.

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