Teeth ’n’ Smiles Review Round-up – Starring Rebecca Lucy Taylor at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London

"Self Esteem brings jagged drama to life"

"Half a century since David Hare’s play was first staged, its flailing musicians at a Cambridge ball remain compulsive"

"Punk was still around the corner when Hare created his characters yet the wild, unpredictable energy of the script gives the piece an edge over Stereophonic"

"[Taylor] gives a formidable portrayal of a talent in free fall, fighting off her demons while making life just about impossible for everyone around her."

"Daniel Raggett’s production captures the frenetic mood of a night where the performers are struggling to hold everything together."

"Phil Daniels indulges in cynical wisecracks as the group’s manager Sarrafian, an old showbiz hand. Hare has great fun, too, with the bumbling student Anson (fluently played by Roman Asde) who falls under Maggie’s spell."

"Yes, the evening has its flaws. I never quite believed in Maggie’s old flame, songwriter Arthur (the fine Michael Fox)"

"If you want a drama of tidy, well-turned proportions, Teeth ‘n’ Smiles is not the place to look. The dialogue, though, is always jagged and intense."

" Self Esteem proves that star casting doesn’t have to turn the West End into I’m a Celeb"

"Acclaimed singer-songwriter Rebecca Lucy Taylor takes on a new revival of David Hare’s biting music-industry drama at the Duke of York’s Theatre"

"... a stage appearance by Rebecca Lucy Taylor (aka award-winning, soul-bearing singer-songwriter Self Esteem) deserves to be looked at square on."

"David Hare's 1975 play Teeth 'n' Smiles feels like the perfect showcase for her warts-and-all honesty, as it plunges off the stage and into the flailing arms of the music business at its very worst."

"Half a century on, Hare's play feels current in a different way, capturing the vampiric nastiness of an industry that still picks up talented musicians, tours them til they break, then declines to pick up the pieces."

"Taylor has a chaotic, faltering kind of glamour as the drink-addled Maggie"

"We're on similar territory to last year's big hit from Broadway, the music-fuelled Stereophonic. And if Hare's writing doesn't have the intricate artistry of David Adjmi's script, it's got a different kind of appeal – it's passionately interested in understanding the social and class faultlines that cut through Maggie's world"

"There's brilliant physical comedy from Jojo Macari as Peyote, the bassist"

"Though David Hare’s Teeth ‘n’ Smiles was written 50 years ago, it still captures the collision of idealism and reality that characterises the world today. And in the performance of Rebecca Lucy Taylor, the singer who goes by the stage name of Self Esteem, it has a blazing star who illuminates the stage."

"... when the music starts, the play utterly comes to life, the songs by Nic and Tony Bicât summing up its themes"

"Taylor is sensational as Maggie, full of self-loathing and fight in almost equal measure, staggering around the stage but never going down. When she sings... she is mesmeric, holding the audience in the grip of her hand "

"It’s not a perfect play, sending sparks in all directions, but it is both witty and wise. Because Hare tackles serious themes, it’s easy to forget how funny he is, and in all the laddish dialogue and Maggie’s retorts, there’s great vigour. Daniels, in particular, is gifted with some classic lines"

"Sarrafian’s presence, and his stories of the war – which are slightly overstretched – are a reminder of how the 1960s were shaped by a wartime generation desperate for hope"

"Self Esteem makes a mesmeric rock star but the drama doesn’t dazzle"

"Fifty years since David Hare’s play was first staged, Rebecca Lucy Taylor is inspired casting as a singer who refuses to go out without a bang"

"Rebecca Lucy Taylor, AKA Self Esteem, plays the dangerously unpredictable Maggie... It is inspired casting to place the British pop star at the centre of this revival, bringing new relevance (and new audiences too)."

"She can hold an audience, and does so here with her vocal performance. The songs by Nick and Tony Bicât, with some new ones by Taylor, are energetic, infectious and often sensational"

"The show comes alive with every song. Taylor becomes magnetic. The sound, by Ben and Max Ringham, moves though you. But the dialogue does not have enough meat on its bones."

"This seems like a play with no centre, though it has plenty of anarchic spirit and humour. Both the emotional intensity and intellectual focus are missing"

"So come for the play and stay for the astounding music."

"Self Esteem is magnetic in a revival of David Hare’s rock-star drama"

"A polished production at London’s Duke of York’s Theatre aims for contemporary resonance, but loses its anarchic spirit"

"Even if, 51 years later, it is more period piece than punk provocation, director Daniel Raggett brings style to an entertaining revival."

"Smart casting in the form of real-life pop singer Rebecca Lucy Taylor — aka Self Esteem... nicely smudges the late Sixties world of the play into the present day."

"After her turn as Sally Bowles in Cabaret in 2023 (another singer having a meltdown) she’s proving to be a strong stage actor. No one comes close to her for presence except Phil Daniels as manager Saraffian, who’s part spiv, part tortoise, slow-moving and stiff-necked, and contemptible in his lack of care for Maggie."

"The dense language of Hare’s script remains interesting, but while everyone says a lot, plot-wise the play is barren."

"... all style and commercial buff, but without room for real anarchy or anguish — only performances of it."

"David Hare’s Teeth ‘n’ Smiles once felt radical – but it has lost its bite"

"Pop star Self Esteem is impressive as a fading Sixties rock singer but this revival of a dated play doesn’t have much to say"

"... why revive this rarely performed piece now? Does it have anything of burning import to say to us in 2026? The awkward answer is a resounding “No”, despite a welcome injection of punch and power late on."

"I have long held the view that David Hare writes mouthpieces rather than three-dimensional characters and this play only serves to confirm my hypothesis. It doesn’t help either that the work asks a lot of a contemporary audience"

"Taylor, who recently starred in the West End production of Cabaret, goes at the part with an impressively blank-eyed force."

"If we reach the interval of Daniel Raggett’s production perplexedly wondering why we came, the second half is – phew – a marked improvement, for us if not for the band itself."

"Taylor unleashes her magnificent voice in a cry of nihilistic heartbreak in Maggie’s Song, a new number she has written especially for this production"

"The singer also known as Self Esteem offers a raw, impassioned performance in David Hare’s dated rock drama"

"‘Can Rebecca Lucy Taylor act?’ is I guess the big question here.... But: the answer is ‘yes’. The theatrical, theatre-literate singer potently channels what feels like a lot of personal stuff into the role of Maggie Frisby"

"... a vehicle to fire Taylor up as she pours her heart and soul and cynicism at the music industry into the role of Maggie, combusting spectacularly – and at one point, almost literally – at the tail-end of the ’60s."

"The trouble is the play has not aged brilliantly, a fact that, to his credit, Hare has acknowledged in the past"

"Although you can feel Taylor’s engagement, Hare’s words feel glaringly lacking in serious engagement with a half-century of musical, cultural and feminist discourse."

"... the clutch of songs here – written by Nick and Tony Bicat, and tweaked by Taylor – feel more music hall than punk. They’re pretty good mind"

"It’s a forceful, impassioned performance. But it’s also quite jarring."

"... you’re left with Rebecca Lucy Taylor pouring her heart into the semi-broken body of a play that would never get commissioned today."

"Rebecca Lucy Taylor undeniably delivers"

"Rebecca Lucy Taylor, aka Self Esteem, tears up the stage in David Hare’s dated rock-band drama"

"Taylor is not only an incendiary performer, but also arguably one of the most exciting and intelligent recording artists in pop – and there’s no question that her casting in Daniel Raggett’s production gives the entire undertaking credibility and thrill."

"Yet, the problems with Hare’s play persist. Part proto-punk gig theatre, part elegy for the hippie dream of the 1960s, it’s a vague, meandering piece, stuffed with self-conscious philosophising and semi-formed stereotypes."

"Ben and Max Ringham’s sound design is authentically rough-edged and ear-splitting, and there’s an irresistible charge to the music. The trouble is that, between songs, we’re almost as bored as Maggie."

"... scene-stealingly charismatic Phil Daniels"

"... in a portrayal to which she has so obviously given her heart and soul, and in which she spares herself nothing, Taylor undeniably delivers."

"Can Self Esteem play a frazzled rock star better than Helen Mirren?"

"The chart-topping singer takes the role pioneered by the Oscar-winning actress in David Hare’s 1975 play. It’s already drawing new audiences to the West End"

"... I ended up admiring Taylor’s performance but not surrendering to it. She is doing a Lily Allen (nominated for an Olivier for 2:22 A Ghost Story), doing a David Bowie (The Elephant Man on Broadway in 1980)."

"Because Taylor has her limitations — many of which could be resolved if she rushed her lines less — but the casting makes sense. Powerful of presence, powerful of (Rotherham-accented) voice, Taylor has even written a new song"

"Watch out, non-regular theatregoers, because Teeth ’n’ Smiles may confirm some of your fears about the theatre. Words matter more than story here: a lot is said, sometimes rather brilliantly, but not that much actually happens."

"Taylor is good. Slowed down, she may be terrific. Yet I suspect you need a great performance to emit the palpable sense of damage required here."

"Still, Daniel Raggett’s production neatly evokes its vanished sense of place. And Phil Daniels is blessedly lively as the band’s old-school manager, Saraffian"

"Why is everybody shouting?"

"Fifty-one years ago, this play must have seemed noisily thrilling and radical. Today, it looks coarse and lumpen"

"Watching Rebecca Lucy Taylor, AKA Self Esteem, take on David Hare’s sprawling, bawling 1975 play with music, I kept asking myself why."

"Taylor delivers the original songs of Hare’s 70s collaborators Nick and Tony Bicât and her own additional material with full-throated verve, but as the self-destructive singer Maggie Frisbee she’s not blessed with nuance or subtlety. But then, neither is the script"

"Today, it looks coarse and lumpen in Daniel Raggett’s unmodulated production, with Phil Daniels one of the few saving graces as the casually exploitative manager Saraffian."

"The songs are undistinguished but loud and played live and well by the cast on Chloe Lamford’s basic set. None of the characters is convincing though, especially Maggie."