There are artists who push boundaries—and then there’s CHRISTEENE, who obliterates them in a cloud of glitter, sweat, and divine filth. Eight years after first erupting onto the Soho Theatre stage like a feral queer comet—with a beer stolen, spat, and a balloon wedged where the sun don’t shine—CHRISTEENE returns this June with a vengeance and a vision. The world may have changed, and so has she—but don’t expect a tame reunion. From underground provocateur to post-pandemic prophet of dirty truths and raw intimacy, CHRISTEENE is back to shake London loose, whether Soho is ready or not.
CHRISTEENE speaks to Loverboy ahead of her show at the newly opened Soho Theatre, Walthamstow on 7th June.
Hi, CHRISTEENE.
Hello, ignore the name on my screen. I’m borrowing it from someone.
Is he still alive?
Maybe, I can’t say. I’ve been watching that series, Mare of Easttown, again. I’ve learned from watching that just to keep your mouth fucking shut when someone might be missing.
This isn’t the first time we’ve met. We actually met eight years ago in Soho Theatre. You stole my beer, spat it back in my face, and then danced off to the stage, with a balloon attached to your butt plug as you ran through Soho Theater.
That sounds like me. Wait, let me get this straight, I spat in your face?
No, you took my beer, drank it, and spat it back in my face. It was a wonderful moment.
Wow, the days before COVID when you could spit beer in people’s faces.
This was way before COVID times, like 2014, so how has CHRISTEENE changed since then?
I’ve had to change, but Soho obviously hasn’t, because they are foolish enough to ask me back. I knew that they were getting their hands on this old theatre. Steve Lock told me to come and play and I said ‘yes’ because of many factors; I love adventure, it’s really nice to reconnect, and it’s nice to find a bit of cash to live in this world that is very cruel to artists. So it was just such a beautiful situation where the bird of Soho flew down from the skies at a very perfect time
Are you excited for the new venue?
It sounds like the town of Walthamstow is going to have all these crazy faggots coming for them. They might run us out of town but that’s the best reaction, kind of the one thing that we’re hoping for. If they come with torches, I’m okay. If they come with love and flowers, I get a little nervous.
What has changed in your show since the last time you were here?
The last time we were like babies, grabbing at everything we could. That’s what babies do,they grab at anything and so the show was madness, and it was exciting.
And now?
I have different things to say and express. I think I know what I’m grabbing at now. Slightly more directed. Not like grab it, shake it, spit beer in its face. I mean, I still do those things, but there’s a bit more thought involved. The show will change because the world has changed.
The world is indeed changing and maybe not for the better. I see you are offering `CHRISTEENE therapy´. I’ve seen some portraits. What does it entail?
It’s my effort to get off the machine (mobiles), to bring people into a room, to congregate at like a salon like in Victorian times.
What advice would you offer young queers in these times?
I would say to the young’uns, follow what you know to be true for yourself and stand by it firmly and know that there is safety in numbers, not in the machine (mobiles) but in the community around you.
You once said, ‘Beauty ain’t clean.’ So what is the most beautifully filthy thing you’ve ever seen?
One place! It just got called the filthiest city in the world! New York City! It really is one of the most disgusting fucking places that I find great beauty in. It’s a big old petri dish of all of these germs coming together and creating something beautiful like penicillin. What city are you in?
I live in Barcelona.
Oh, I like Barcelona. I did the Sonar Festival. How many years ago was it? Jesus Christ, I think it was in 2011.
And what did you think of the city? Was it filthy enough for you?
It was exceptionally fun. Everybody was eating on the street, and we got dragged to some very late night parties.
Yeah, in general people don’t head out to the club here until one in the morning. We are ‘creatures of the night.’
I’m glad to hear that too, because after the COVID days everyone started going out at nine o’clock, and it’s quite shocking. I’m ready to go back to the late nights. Everyone seems to be staying up very late because their minds are full and the world is crazy. I think late in the night is the time once again.
Finally, we are named after the biggest selling single of 2001. So we always ask what is your favourite Mariah song and why?
Oh! The one where she’s like on a roller coaster. A roller coaster makes anybody either very excited or shit themselves or both. I would say that song, if it comes on. ‘Fantasy’? Yes!
CHRISTEENE plays Soho Theatre, Walthomstow, 7th June.
See www.sohotheatre.com for tickets and more info.
Photo: Brett Lindell
Interview: Ed Westbrook
