Arani Cuthbert

Arani Cuthbert is the driving force behind Diva Productions. Active in the creative sector since the early 1990s, she has worked across the fields of television and the performing arts. 

Cuthbert is best known for her work with entertainers Lynda and Jools Topp, possibly the world's only comedic singing lesbian twins. Cuthbert has managed the duo for almost three decades; her work as producer includes their comedy series Do Not Adjust Your Twin-Set, and hit movie Untouchable Girls. The TV series ran for three seasons and became one of TV3's top-rating shows; the movie remains one of New Zealand's most awarded and successful documentaries. Food show Topp Country won multiple awards at the 2016 and 2018 NZ Television Awards. 

Growing up in Auckland, Cuthbert was keen on science, maths and english, and could often be found with her nose in a book. Her management skills would not be revealed until after left St Mary's College. The same year she graduated with a  zoology degree, Cuthbert co-founded Mamata Bakery, a women's co-op in the Auckalnd suburb of Grey Lynn. It was home to women's band Turiya, and at one point employed 25. Then she headed off on her OE, where she taught science to students at both Oxford University and schools in central London.

In the late 1980s Cuthbert's work for Greenpeace pulled her into the media. After returning to New Zealand she joined the organisation, and was part of a successful international campaign for Antarctica to attain world park status. She presented The Rainbow Warriors, an English documentary about young environmentalists around the world, and had a guest slot on Kiwi wildlife series Wildtrack. 

As she writes in NZ On Screen's  Topp Twins Collection, Cuthbert first witnessed the Topp Twins at Auckland University in the early 1980s. She was having lunch in the quad when they began performing, jumping on tables and stirring up the crowd. Watching them perform, she realised the power of their music to bring people together, and create change. "If I had to sum up what The Topp Twins mean to me," she writes, "it's about being true to yourself and having the courage to walk your own path, but also biring others with you. The twin's incredible ability to create joy has kept me going."

In the early 1990s, Cuthbert became their manager. "In the early days it was like joining the circus, the thrill of being a gypsy," says Cuthbert. Later, with the Topp Twins becoming something of an institution, "there's quite a business to run". When the duo got their own television show in 1996, Do Not Adjust Your Twin-Set, she jumped in the deep end as one of the producers, doing everything from finding events to film at, wrangling crowds, and managing a shoot that was very much "fly by the seat of your pants, with storytelling and comedy often happening on the spot". 

The Topp Twins - Untouchable Girls debuted in 2009. Directed by Leanne Pooley, the movie mixes interviews, footage from a specially created concert, and appearances by beloved Topp Twins characters — including Ken and Ken, and Camp Leader and Camp Mother. For Cuthbert, the film shows that the Topp Twins' story is also a wider one, since many of the issues they agitated for have helped shape New Zealand as a nation. "They were incredibly brave about being out, when most people were still hiding in the closet. We forget how times have changed, and making a documentary like this reminds us — and the next generation  — how important it is to take a stand about the things that matter. "

The most successful Kiwi documentary until 2016's Chasing Great, Untouchable Girls scored a Qantas Award for best feature made for under $1 million. It has won a long series of awards at festivals worldwide, gay and straight alike.

The following year she executive produced an award-winning TV special featuring The Topp Twins and the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra.  Cuthbert produced  30 episodes of roving food show Topp Country across three seasons. The series won a clutch of awards at both the 2016 and 2018 TV awards, and Cuthbert self-published a tie-in book.

In 2022, she produced a Topp Twins tribute show to celebrate the duo’s 40th anniversary in showbiz. It was filmed live at Auckland’s Civic Theatre.

Cuthbert has also worked on a number of screen projects outside of the Topp Twins universe. She joined her partner Felicity Morgan-Rhind for short documentary How Mr and Mrs Gock Saved the Kumara (2016), then in 2018 corralled a largely female team for What Women Want. Marking 125 years since New Zealand women got the right to vote, the four part special was built around panel conversations about equality and other big issues.

Cuthbert has also produced Māori Television series Intake, about young army recruits, Māori Boys Go Global, which profiles the trio behind beverage Wai Mānuka, and web series Asia: Art Stories in Aotearoa, which profiles 18 Asian-Kiwi artists.

Alongside the Topp Twins' many live shows and tours, Cuthbert has produced and promoted a number of comedy and music gigs. En route, she has represented singers Anika Moa, Don McGlashan and Tami Nielsen— some of the time through now defunct Diva Productions offshoot Diva the Agency. In 2002 she bought K Road music venue Khuja Lounge  — partly to fund her screen work, partly "because I'd always wanted my own venue to put on shows". She ran it for four years.

In 2008, she won a place on a Venture Accelerator mentorship program. Soon after, she won a Women in Film and TV Award for Achievement in Film. Diva Productions is currently producing screen projects, and has launched a Topp Twins VOD site.

Profile updated on 20 June 2023