Electrifying performance artist CHRISTEENE is back in London to perform at Soho Theatre Walthamstow for one night only! Ahead of what promises to be an unforgettable show, Gay London Life’s cabaret aficionado Jason Reid caught up with them and talked art, politics, David Hoyle, roast dinners and more…
Welcome back to London, CHRISTEENE! Your shows are always highly anticipated over here. The UK has a lot of love for you. Before you take to the stage, what will you be making a point of doing in the capital?
I wanna fukkn sunday roast first a foremost an then a hefty dose of Horse Meat Disco at tha Eagle. Shake tha meat n gravy UP ya know? I wanna see good friends n fam. I like to do a lot of walkin alone all over tha place to just say a lil hey to the city. I love London dearly.
Your performances have been described as the stuff of queer punk legend. From your very personal perspective, how would you sum your art up?
Thats a very nice thing to read. Im a reactionary force. This world is hittin us with motherloads of feelins right now. Always, but right now the hits are critically deep. I listen to my gut. I try to create a soundscape an a room that you can come into an unload, explore an witness so that u…and i… can keep on fukkn goin.
The last time I saw you perform was at The RVT with David Hoyle, which was extraordinary. What’s your relationship with David like?
David is like no other being I have ever met. I am ecstatic in David’s presence an my anticipation is overwhelming tha minute i hear David speak. David is an oracle to me, and many. David is pure queer punk legend like no other. We decided to forge ourselves together in a creative marriage after we met years ago. Best fukkn decision i ever made. I love David. Many do. I hope he feels that every day of his life.
Which other artists do you enjoy being in the presence of?
Any artist that aint thinkin of their audience when they are creating for this fukkd world. An artist who is feedin the world full with a pure disruptive channel of thought and action. Some of the folks I’ve had tha extreme pleasure of sharing my creative world with and vice versa are Peaches, Kembra Pfhaler, Fever Ray, Justin Vivian Bond, Juergen Teller, Silky Shoemaker, Lex Vaughn, David Hoyle, Roddy Bottum, Marc Almond, Rose Wood. I believe that you are your friends…and this chain of fools definitely brings me hope and fire to live by.
This show is a one-nighter at Soho Theatre Walthamstow. What can we expect?
Expect nothin and bring everything you fukkn got.
What makes the venue special?
She is an old old place n space. I love some theatre walls that can talk. She talks a lot. Its also really moving for me to see Soho Theatre have this moment. They have earned it. They support so many fukkn mixed nuts in this creative world, unapologetically. They have never tried to control or edit my content. If anything, they have made it much worse for the world, and I am in it to win it with them.
Both here in the UK and in the US, queer people are going through a torrid time right now with the trans Supreme Court ruling and Trump’s crackdown on trans people. What’s your message and advice to queer people who understandably may be feeling hopeless?
I urge my people to begin to reexamine our lives in relation to these machines in our hands, in our faces all tha time. Divisiveness is key to destroying a people. First and foremost know that you are above an beyond any vile law they wish to throw at you. You are pure power in yourself, in this wurld, and what you represent, we represent in thiz world, is somethin so great and new an evolutionary an real that all they in ‘power’ can do is shit their fukkn knickers an try to stop it with all they got. They are drownin in fear of change and loss of ‘power’. They will do anything to stop us, which they wont. Its gonna be hard fukkn times. It ain’t gonna be easy as we can see an feel. But if we show up in person together a keep our ideals an arms locked… we shall stamp out these monsters together.
As an artist and a human, how do you shock people into action in the age of Trump’s twisted reality and the genocide in Gaza?
The saddest thing today is you can ‘shock’ people by actually recognising and speaking out against a genocide taking place run by the heavy hand of the israeli and tha US governments, and tha UK and all others that have supplied weapons and support to this most darke and vile agenda. We on tha right side of history are all trapped in our government’s complicities to this action. If u can be deported in tha states for recognizing the murder of children for real estate all in tha name of some god….this is where we at are over here. Speakin up at all shows and not givin a fukk who takes action against u or tries to shut u down… it’s what we can do as artists with a voice an platform. And TALK. TALK about it with ur peers. Process this shit. We must not be silent in our day to days with our peers. We must strategise an move forward to end this shit.
Why is art important?
Art cracks ur fukkn head open to experiences u could never imagine for yourself. It takes your hand and drags u to some remarkable realms that speak a secret language only u can understand for yourself.
Is censorship ever acceptable?
No. Everyone has tha right to express themselves. It’s what u do with it after that matters.
Finally, what do you cherish most in life?
I cherish the birds eye view of we creatures on this small rock which we are crafted from floatin in a vast mass of nothingness. It grounds me. It makes experiences in this realm all tha more magical.
CHRISTEENE is at Soho Theatre Walthamstow, 186 Hoe St, E17 4QH on Saturday 7th June. For tickets and more info, click here.
