Going West Festival Theatre: Raising the Titanics

Winner of Super City Award for Best New Play of 2010 - NZ Listener

Following its sell out 2010 debut season, SmackBang Theatre Company proudly brings Raising the Titanic to Going West Books and Writers Festival 2011.

Written by award-winning playwright Albert Belz, directed by New Zealand theatre legend Raymond Hawthorne and created with the musical guidance of the incredible John Gibson, Raising The Titanics, is a magical musical homage to the late and great Maori show-bands of the 1950’s and 1960’s. These remarkable groups changed the face of New Zealand’s musical landscape and paved the way for future New Zealand entertainers. It harks back to a time when bands like The Quin Tikis and Maori Volcanics were in vogue and at the top of the charts.

Raising The Titanics is a story of discovery, dark secrets, whanau and redemption expertly told through a gifted and multitalented cast including acclaimed musician Tama Waipara and familiar faces from the stage and screen including Faye Smythe, Lana Garland and Wesley Dowdell. The play journeys between the 1990s and the golden age of the Maori show band era as one woman seeks to discover what really sunk The Titanics. Somewhere beneath the oceans of music, mirth and memory lies the truth.

“Quick, someone get this band an agent. A homage to the Maori showbands of the 1960s, the Titanics have all the harmonies, musicality, glamour and humour of their heroes.” - Janet McAllister, NZ Herald

"Raising the Titanics is an absolute must see! 

Albert Belz has written a gem." - Tamati Patuwai, Theatreview

“Maori theatre at its very best” - Mika, Radio NZ

Event listed by SWPR Ltd

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