Armed with laughter

“Going to a Topp Twins gig in New Zealand is a bit like going to a thousand-strong family reunion,” writes Stephanie Bunbury for The Age. “Up front are Jools and Lynda Topp, 51-year-old identical twins singing country harmonies in unearthly stereo. The fact Lynda and Jools are gay, look gay and talk about being gay when they’re on stage doesn’t faze the grannies, the children or the country-music rednecks. Partly thanks to the Topps, they’re over that. Audiences at the Toronto Film Festival may not have heard of them but   they voted the film best documentary. “But every single country in the world has had its own version of these struggles,” Jools says. “We’ve just been lucky to live in a small enough place to be able to make a difference.” Not that anybody has ever sent them hate mail, Lynda assures me. “Of course,” Jools chips in, “we’ve got this fabulous weapon called laughter.”