Living a Topp life
Carly Thomas
Most people have to wait until they die to get an exhibition about their life but Lynda and Jools Topp are not most people, they are extraordinary ones.
They got to walk through their years, together; as they have always done, when they came to the opening of Te Manawa’s exhibition: The Topp Twins: An Exhibition for New Zealand.
It was a wonderfully odd experience, says Lynda Topp.
‘‘Well, yeah, we’re not dead and it felt like a real honour. It felt pretty good. Te Manawa poured their heart and soul into it and they did a fantastic job.’’
The most striking thing about the exhibition is that there is so much more to these two than the obvious. We know them as iconic entertainers, singing and harmonising their way through life with their wicked, down-toearth humour, but the walls also tell another story.
These two women have a strong sense of fairness.
Walk with them on their path and you will walk through protest chants, rebel cries for gay rights and Maori land issues. You will experience a nuclear-free swagger that marches into feminism and gender equality issues.
You will see strength and community, and you will see a humble pride.
‘‘We were a part of all those things, which are historical to New Zealand now, and it wasn’t just Jools and me, it was a whole generation. People identify with all of that.’’
They were brought up ‘‘good’’, says Lynda. The twins and their brother Bruce had wonderful parents, she says.
‘‘There were no rules in the family that boys did this and girls did that. Jools and I helped on the farm and Bruce did the dishes. Bruce is gay as well, so three out of three in the family. Our parents were so amazingly supportive.’’
Their characters, too, were familiar to all New Zealanders: Ken and Ken, the bowling ladies, Camp Mother and Camp Leader, the Gingham Sisters, Westie girls Raylene and Brenda and posh socialites Prue and Dilly. They are all there as you walk through the decades, too.
And it’s two beautiful lives that are on display, wearing their hearts-on-their-sleeves lives.
The exhibition opening was full of laughter. There were costumes there to put on and the twins got stuck in. There were moments of poignancy, moments of pride and moments filled with laughter and exclamations of ‘‘did we really do that’’? And they have done it, together. ‘‘That twin thing. There is something there, right from the beginning that’s what you are, you are never not a twin. You are never alone, there is always someone there for you, 24/7, your whole life.’’
‘‘It’s pretty magic really.’’
The Topp Twins: An Exhibition for New Zealand runs at Palmerston North’s Te Manawa until October 29. For more information go to: temanawa.co.nz/topptwins/