Theatre maker Paula Varjack has created something remarkable with Nine Sixteenths, a new ensemble show opening at Brixton House this week following an acclaimed tour outside London. Part coming-of-age story, part cultural interrogation, the production takes its title from a fraction of a second that changed the trajectory of one of pop music's biggest stars, and asks urgent questions about who controls the narratives around Black women in the public eye.
The show, developed with support and a grant from Complicité, weaves together personal memoir, pop culture analysis, and sharp-eyed social commentary. It features an ensemble cast of Black women, all over the age of 40, in what Varjack describes as a homage to the artist whose music shaped her own girlhood and whose sudden disappearance from the cultural mainstream left her bewildered.
From Fandom to Investigation
Growing up during the 1990s, Varjack was a devoted fan of Janet Jackson. "She was a real icon for me," Varjack has explained, echoing the feelings of countless young Black women who saw themselves reflected in Jackson's artistry, confidence, and creative ambition. It was only when Varjack watched Jackson perform at Glastonbury in 2019 that a nagging question surfaced: why had Jackson seemingly vanished from her consciousness?
The answer, Varjack discovered, was both simple and deeply troubling. Jackson had continued to release music consistently between 2004 and 2019. She had not retired or stepped away. Yet somehow her output had barely registered with the wider public. "It was so strange, as if she had lost a sense of her own narrative," Varjack recalls. "She had been huge, and then suddenly she wasn't. She didn't stop making music, but it just wasn't heard widely. I wanted to know what had happened."
Nine Sixteenths of a Second That Changed Everything
The pivotal moment at the heart of the show occurred during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime performance. Jackson, then at the peak of her career and the first Black woman to headline the prestigious slot, was joined on stage by a young Justin Timberlake. In a rehearsed choreographic move, Timberlake pulled away part of Jackson's top. The costume was supposed to hold together, but a malfunction meant that Jackson's nipple was exposed on live television for precisely nine sixteenths of a second.
This fraction-of-a-second incident, occurring when the internet was still in its relative infancy and viral sharing was not yet the cultural force it would become, nonetheless had a devastating impact on Jackson's career. The consequences were swift, severe, and strikingly one-sided. Timberlake emerged from the controversy essentially unscathed, performing at the Grammys just one week later. Jackson, by contrast, had her Grammy invitation rescinded. For five years afterwards, her music received virtually no airplay on radio stations or MTV.
"Her output was blocked. Effectively, she had been cancelled," Varjack explains. "Her career did eventually recover, but I wondered what it might have been if she had not been cancelled." She notes that it took a full decade before another Black female artist, Beyoncé, was given the opportunity to headline the Super Bowl.
Silence, Power, and Who Controls the Story
What fascinates Varjack most about the incident is not just the injustice itself, but the silence that followed. Jackson has only ever referred to the episode in the most oblique terms in public. That silence, Varjack argues, speaks volumes about who wields power in the media landscape, which remains overwhelmingly dominated by white male multimillionaires.
The show interrogates these power dynamics head-on, asking who benefited from Jackson's humiliation and silencing. It examines how narratives around Black women in popular culture are constructed, maintained, and, when convenient, dismantled by those who hold institutional power. Nine Sixteenths positions Jackson's story not as an isolated incident but as a case study in the broader mechanisms of cultural erasure.
Varjack also explores how attitudes toward female sexuality, particularly when expressed by older women, have shifted considerably over the two decades since the wardrobe malfunction. "There has been a resurgence of older women in fashion and within pop culture," she observes. "But I think back then being a pop icon who was a 38-year-old woman who was really owning her sexuality in her lyrics and on stage and who was an ally for the LGBTQ+ community was thought to be offensive by some who decided she had to be policed."
Black Women's Bodies on Stage
As a Black artist herself, and one who is keenly aware of how age intersects with race and gender in performance contexts, Varjack uses Nine Sixteenths to probe how Black female bodies are read on stage by audiences. "How my representation sits" is a question she returns to throughout the work, turning the analytical lens on herself as much as on Jackson.
The decision to cast an ensemble of Black women all over 40 is both a political statement and an artistic choice rooted in deep personal meaning. It reclaims the power and visibility that was stripped from Jackson, placing older Black women centre stage in a culture that often marginalises them. The ensemble format also echoes Jackson's own legacy as a performer who worked with large dance troupes and whose artistry was fundamentally collaborative.
Varjack's Distinctive Theatrical Voice
Those familiar with Paula Varjack's previous work will know to expect a production that is at once deeply thoughtful and unexpectedly funny. Her theatrical output has consistently blurred the boundaries between autobiography, documentary, and performance, creating work that entertains while challenging audiences to reconsider their assumptions.
Nine Sixteenths fits squarely into this tradition. It is a show about icons: why we need them, how they shape our sense of self during our formative years, and what it means when they are taken from us not by natural cultural evolution but by deliberate institutional action. The coming-of-age thread running through the production grounds the bigger political questions in lived, felt experience, ensuring that the show connects emotionally as well as intellectually.
The support from Complicité, one of the UK's most respected theatre companies known for innovative, visually striking ensemble work, speaks to the ambition and quality of the production. Their involvement suggests a show that pushes formal boundaries as much as thematic ones.
Why This Show Matters Now
Nine Sixteenths arrives at a moment when conversations about cancel culture, media accountability, and the specific challenges facing Black women in public life are more prominent than ever. Yet the show is not simply riding a cultural wave. By anchoring its themes in a specific, meticulously researched historical event, Varjack avoids the vagueness that can sometimes plague works about contemporary social issues.
The production also raises uncomfortable questions about collective complicity. If Jackson's music was blocked from airplay for half a decade and the wider public barely noticed, what does that say about the ease with which powerful institutions can reshape cultural memory? And what other stories have been quietly buried or redirected without our awareness?
These are questions that resonate far beyond the world of pop music, touching on how narratives are controlled in politics, media, and indeed in the arts themselves.
Should You Book?
If you are drawn to theatre that combines personal storytelling with sharp cultural analysis, Nine Sixteenths looks like essential viewing. Varjack's reputation for creating work that is both intellectually rigorous and genuinely entertaining suggests this will be a highlight of the London fringe calendar. The Brixton House run follows positive responses from audiences outside the capital, and the production's themes feel urgently relevant.
The show is particularly recommended for anyone interested in pop culture, representation, the politics of erasure, or simply the story of how one of the world's biggest pop stars was effectively silenced for a wardrobe malfunction that lasted less than a second.
For more of the latest theatre news and to discover what is on across London's stages, browse our full list of current shows or explore our latest theatre features and news.
Susan Novak has a lifelong passion for theatre. With a degree in English, she brings a deep appreciation for storytelling and drama to her writing. She also loves reading and poetry. When not attending shows, Susan enjoys exploring new work and sharing her enthusiasm for the performing arts, aiming to inspire others to experience the magic of theatre.
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