Eccentric, scandalous, provocative, exuberant and funny as ever, Jean Paul Gaultier is shaking up London with his stunning new creation, Fashion Freak Show. The production, an explosive combination of a revue and fashion show, will play Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall from Tuesday 23 July for 13 performances only.
Fashion Freak Show is currently enjoying an acclaimed run in Paris at the iconic Folies Bergère, before transferring to Southbank Centre to make its UK premiere. Tickets for Fashion Freak Show go on sale to Southbank Centre members tomorrow, Thursday 4 April, and on general sale on Friday, 5 April.
In this extraordinary production, actors, dancers and circus artists take to the stage and play outlandish, passionate, larger than life, rude, sexy, sassy creatures and personalities.
Set against the backdrop of a giant video wall, a key part of the production features vignettes of special guest stars – including a number of Gaultier’s long-term, iconic supporters and friends. Rossy de Palma plays the young Gaultier’s unforgiving schoolteacher, who harbours secret fashion fantasies of her own, while Catherine Deneuve reads out the hysterical names that Gaultier gave the creations in his fabulous men’s couture show of the early ’90s.
As author, director and costume designer, Jean Paul Gaultier takes a look at our times in both an extravagant and tender way, and invites us behind the scenes into his world filled with excess, poetry and magic.
From his childhood to his early career, from his greatest fashion shows to the wild nights in Le Palace or London, Jean Paul Gaultier shares his journal of the times and pays tribute to those who have inspired him in film (Pedro Almodovar, Luc Besson), music (Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Mylène Farmer) and dance (Régine Chopinot, Angelin Prejlocaj).
In the show, conceived like a grand party, Jean Paul Gaultier will surprise us yet again. He has designed hundreds of new exclusive outfits, incorporated within an exuberant set – without forgetting to invite his most iconic creations!
He has collaborated with the best in their field, such as actress, scriptwriter and director Tonie Marshall, who co-directs the show, and choreographer Marion Motin (Madonna, Christine and the Queens, Stromae, RESISTE, the musical…).
From disco to funk, from pop to rock and new wave and punk, the Fashion Freak Show is an explosive playlist of hits that have inspired the artist throughout his life.
Jean Paul Gaultier said: “I am honoured that my Fashion Freak Show will premiere at Southbank Centre. London is dear to my heart and a constant source of inspiration. I have been coming here since my youth and have been greatly influenced by British music, theatre and cinema throughout my career from the Rocky Horror Show through Punk and New Wave and I keep coming back. I hope that audiences will enjoy the show as much as I did creating it.”
