Nine Sixteenths review – what Janet Jackson’s ‘Nipplegate’ scandal really exposed

Brixton House, London
Paula Varjack’s kinetic play uses lip syncing and dance routines to show how prejudice turned a ‘wardrobe malfunction’ into a career disaster

The year is 2004 and the Super Bowl halftime show is about to begin. What would later become known as “Nipplegate” – in which Justin Timberlake ripped part of Janet Jackson’s bodice, briefly exposing her right breast – will be broadcast to 70,000 spectators in the stadium and more than 140 million TV viewers. This one “wardrobe malfunction”, lasting just nine sixteenths of a second, will lead to Jackson being blacklisted from much of the music industry for years, sending her career into a spiral while Timberlake’s continued to thrive.

Paula Varjack’s play interrogates the role that gender, race and age played in that fallout, while also serving as a loud and proud love letter to Jackson and her music. Initially inspired by a 2019 trip to Glastonbury, where Varjack saw Jackson perform and wondered why she had never played the festival before, the show highlights the injustice of a white, male-controlled and favoured music industry. Performed alongside fellow devisers Pauline Mayers, Julienne Doko, Chia Phoenix and BSL performer Vinessa Brant, the result is a kinetic multimedia analysis that uses lip syncing, killer dance routines, onscreen BSL by Cherie Gordon and puppetry to build their case. Directed by Emily Aboud, the production erupts with high-speed spirit.