Rutene Spooner's show Be Like Billy? will debut on Saturday, September 14 as part of the Aronui Indigenous Arts Festival.
Rutene Spooner's show Be Like Billy? will debut on Saturday, September 14 as part of the Aronui Indigenous Arts Festival.
“Are you laughing with me or are you laughing at me?”
This is the question Modern Māori cabaret performer Rutene Spooner asks audiences in his new work Be Like Billy?, which is to launch at Rotorua’s Aronui Indigenous Arts Festival on September 14.
Spooner said cabaret was the perfect vehicle to push a conversation about social issues.
As a parent to a preschooler, it was only natural he would explore themes of making a better Aotearoa for her as someone both Pākehā and Māori “in a country that is still trying to find that balance”, Spooner said.
“This is very much a love letter to my daughter. I think we as contemporary performers always want to push a conversation,” Spooner said.
“Someone once said to me that art has to be either really good or really bad because if it’s just okay, it’s a waste of time.”
Rutene Spooner discovered Billy T. James on VHS and remembers him being a big presence at home.
Spooner described himself as “the class clown that made it his career” and said as a child of the VHS era, he had “inherited Billy T” through tapes and old recordings.
“He had died just before I was born. The way he lived on was even through VHS in the quotes from our families and our communities, then in the songs that were in our homes and garage parties.”
Since making his cabaret show Thoroughly Modern Māui, Spooner said he had gained a reputation for platforming social issues like men’s mental health.
“Without giving it away, Be Like Billy? makes us examine both ourselves as Māori and as tangata Tiriti or non-Māori who are from Aotearoa,” Spooner said.
“It’s a coming-of-age story, how Rutene discovers Billy T and the journey of a Billy T impersonator. Then on the other end going, ‘Actually, what kind of entertainer is Rutene?’”
Spooner said his world explored “punching up, instead of punching down”.
“A lot of [Billy’s] material at the time floated differently to how it would now,” Spooner said.
“This show is very much an homage to the Māori entertainers and the shoulders that I stand on to be able to do the things I do now and to be able to say the things I do now.
“It’s an homage to the pathways they left behind.”
The show featured The Tekīra Mutton Birds, the Be Like Billy? band, and paid homage to Rotorua.
Spooner said Sir Howard Morrisson, Billy T. James and Prince Tui Teka thrived in the cabaret world, which he loved growing up.
“Cabaret is the perfect vehicle and [an] entertaining way to have a conversation or to push a kaupapa.
“In my opinion, Rotorua is one of the, if not the, homes of Māori show bands ... so it’s great to be kicking it off there.”
Spooner said travelling with the Modern Māori Quartet had allowed him to extract international cabaret knowledge and experiences which he weaved into the show.
“I think that the art form of cabaret is perfect for that because it is direct yarn. I’m not talking for your benefit. I’m talking directly to you. I’m singing directly to you. We’re sharing that conversation. I think it’s very Māori, too.”
Be Like Billy? is on at the Sir Howard Morrison Centre for one show on Saturday, September 14. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster.
Aleyna Martinez is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty. She moved to the region in 2024 and has previously reported in Wairarapa and at Pacific Media Network.
