Tina C is a comedy country singer from the good ole U.S of A, played by Christopher Green. Her show encompasses live music and political stand-up, as well as observational humour on the differences between America and the UK.
Green as a performer is outstanding.
Tina introduces herself by saying a prayer to Jesus in a stern and abrupt manner. To a raft of laughter she tells the audience “I don’t pray - I negotiate,” and in doing so sets the tone for the show. Tina is a country and western star who is more used to playing stadia than Spiegeltent, and her sarcastic and bitter tone let us know as much throughout the show.
There is some audience participation – the first few minutes are spent spreading hugs. “For legal, contractual, and let’s face it, hygiene reasons, I’m only allowed to hug one of you. I then want that person to hug another three people, and each of them to hug another three, and so on.” Though this is a quaint touch that gets strangers talking to each other, but it seems a little bit odd as it is then never mentioned again.
Green as a performer is outstanding. He knows the character inside and out, and Tina C has the voice of an angel. The songs are well-written and sound like country standards, and as the set went on the songs became stronger. Love Must Have Made Me Deaf, an archetypal country toe-tapper, and Jesus Loves Everybody, a non-gospel gospel song, were much stronger than the songs Tina was promoting from her new album, Cash is a Four-Letter Word. Though the songs from this album were well performed, they were not as incisive, witty or engaging as the later material.
The stand-up material that acts as the glue between songs is enjoyable, and there’s the occasional belly-laugh, but there’s nothing ground-breaking there and some segments seem to drag a little. Though this is a show I would definitely recommend, I left feeling that we only caught glimpses of how good this character could be, and that we didn’t see the best of Tina C tonight.
