Paula Varjack is taking her show The Cult of K*NZO on tour.
The production interweaves the stories of one woman’s lifelong desire for luxury and the young Kenzo Takada’s dream of becoming a fashion designer. Kenzo was one of the first men to study at fashion school in Japan and one of the first Japanese designers to come to train and design in the West. Like the “she” of the story, he was deeply drawn to high fashion.
“Most of my clothes are carefully selected from eBay or charity shops,” said Paula “but a couple of winters ago I got up in the middle of the night so that I could be amongst the first to buy from H&M’s new Kenzo collaboration. I spent as much in 10 minutes as I usually do in a year! What was it about these clothes and this brand that made me act so out of character? I couldn’t work it out and felt compelled to explore it further; to make a show looking at what drives people to want things that are exclusive, that not everyone can have, and the stories we tell by what we wear.”
The show was inspired by an experience Varjack had in November 2016 when she queued at 4am outside a branch of H&M in East London to be the first in line to buy exclusive designs from Kenzo’s new collaboration with the Swedish fast fashion multinational.
The Cult of K*NZO tours venues around England from February to May 2019. It is written and performed by Paula Varjack, directed by Martin Bengtsson and produced by Daisy Dockrill.
You can see the show at the following dates and venues:
Wednesday 20 February, 8pm
Colchester Arts Centre, Church Street, CO1 1NF
£pay what you can 01206 500900 www.colchesterartscentre.com
Friday 22 February, 7.30pm
Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, Brayford Pool, LN6 7TS
£12.50/ £5 (students and under 26s) 01522 837600 www.lpac.co.uk
Saturday 9 March, 7pm
Leicester Attenborough Arts Centre, Lancaster Road, Leicester LE1 7HA
£5 (4 for £15) 0116 252 2455 www2.le.ac.uk/hosted/attenborougharts
Part of International Woman’s Day Festival
Wednesday 13 March, 7pm
Stockton ARC, Stockton Arts Centre, Dovecot Street, Stockton on Tees, TS18 1LL
£pay what you can 01642 525199 www.arconline.co.uk
Saturday 23 March, 7.45pm
Sheffield Theatre Deli, 202 Eyre Street, Sheffield S1 4QZ
£10/£8 www.theatredeli.co.uk
Thursday 4 April, 7.30pm
Folkestone Quarterhouse, Mill Bay, Folkestone, CT20 1BN
£10/£8 01303 760750 www.quarterhouse.co.uk
Thursday 25 April, 7.45pm
York Theatre Royal, St Leonards Place, York YO1 7HD
£13 01904 623568 www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
Saturday 27 April, 8.30pm
London Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, London SW11 5TN
£12.50/£10 020 7223 2223 www.bac.org.uk
Wednesday 22 May, 8pm
Newcastle, Northern Stage, Barras Bridge, NE1 7RH
£10 0191 230 5151 www.northernstage.co.uk
Thursday 30 May, 8pm
Salford The Lowry, The Quays, Pier 8, M50 3AZ
£12/10 0843 2086000 www.thelowry.com
