Guest review by Emma Maguire

When I glance around the theatre before What a Coun­try and notice that I’m def­in­itely the young­est per­son in the audi­ence I real­ise that I might be slightly out of this show’s demo­graph­ic. I also hate coun­try music.

But that’s alright, because Wilson Dixon’s What a Coun­try man­ages to tran­scend my loath­ing of all things coun­try and gets me laugh­ing with­in minutes.

Wilson Dix­on is from Cripple Creek, Col­or­ado, and he is the pic­ture of a gen­er­ic Amer­ic­an coun­try sing­er. His wife’s left him, and all he’s got left is his gui­tar, his ever-grow­ing fam­ily (ser­i­ously, how many broth­ers does this dude actu­ally have?), and a tumul­tu­ous rela­tion­ship with his horse.

With anec­dotes about fly­ing, ex-wives, alco­hol­ism, and Trump scattered between songs such as ‘Ain’t No Good’, ‘Old Lady’s Garden’ and ‘Know­ledge and Wis­dom’, Dixon’s dead­pan deliv­ery is a delight to watch. In par­tic­u­lar, I enjoyed a song called ‘Good­night, Sleep Tight’, a lul­laby for Dixon’s niece to listen to when her par­ents were fight­ing.

To put it politely, that song def­in­itely doesn’t end the way you’d expect it to.

(Actu­ally, that theme runs through the entirety of the show.)

Though some of the punch­lines are tele­graphed, and a few of them are a tiny bit cringey, What a Coun­try is an excel­lent show to see if you’re into mel­low com­edy. The stakes are low, there’s no audi­ence par­ti­cip­a­tion, and you’re free to just listen and relax. The fant­ast­ic songs and an oddly charm­ing host are an excel­lent bonus.

Take the chance to sit back, have a beer, and listen to some of the fun­ni­est coun­try songs you’ll ever hear.

(Ser­i­ously, even if you don’t like coun­try, give this show a go! It’ll grow on you.)

What a Coun­try is run­ning at Tapere Nui in Te Aua­ha in Wel­ling­ton at 7.00pm between now and Sat­urday. Tick­ets are selling fast. Get amongst!