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Teeth 'N' Smiles

 
Paul T. Davies Review by Paul T. Davies 3 Published: 2 Apr 2026 Duke of York's Theatre Show Dates: 27 Mar 2026-6 Jun 2026

To commemorate its fiftieth anniversary, David Hare’s Teeth 'n' Smiles is given a rockingly good production at the Duke of York’s Theatre.

Although you may have come for the play, you’ll stay for the band

It turns out to be a play of two halves. Whilst the treatment of women in the music industry is still pertinent and shocking, the play is dated. Set during the night of 9 June 1969 at the Jesus College, Cambridge May Ball, it often feels like a middle-class man’s view of the rock scene. Obviously, over the years, it has been surpassed by stronger examples, particularly Cora Bissett’s Edinburgh smash What Girls Are Made Of, forged from lived experience, and David Adjmi’s overlong Stereophonic that tackles the sexual politics of the era. But, in many ways, this play was the original gig theatre, and the band, especially in the superb central performance by Rebecca Lucy Taylor, bring the music and are the reason to see this play.

As Maggie, Taylor inhabits the role, first seen carried onto the stage after being poured out from the touring van, reliant on whiskey to get her through the night. She captures the vulnerability of the role, especially when her ex, Arthur (Michael Fox), is present. She also contributes additional new music and lyrics (Maggie’s Song especially is a poignant ballad), and the feel of the tracks, originally by Nick and Tony Bicat, are given tremendous energy, the band caught between the end of the hippy dream and several years away from gob-spitting punk. They are a tight outfit and bring the play to life, although there are some stereotypes. Phil Daniels is hardly pushed as the Cockney, sleazy band manager, but Roman Asde does well as the anxious booker seduced by Maggie.

Set just a couple of months before Janis Joplin’s untimely death, her shadow is cast over the play. But strangely, given that fact, and the ensuing drug taking and drugs bust, arson and theft that occur during the night, the play lacks any real jeopardy. Projections tell us what happened to the band afterwards, and, apart from one drug-related death, they all lived happily. It feels that the stakes were never raised high enough and certainly the break-up is not delivered strongly enough. However, the staging and design bring the music near, and, although you may have come for the play, you’ll stay for the band.

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The Blurb:

Before the New York Dolls. Before Debbie Harry. Before Kurt Cobain. There was Maggie Frisby. Once the roaring voice of 60s counterculture, now broke and disillusioned, a band’s youthful dreams of anarchic rebellion collapse into bitterness. Amidst the wreckage, lead singer Maggie tears through the night fuelled by booze, fury, and a voice that refuses to die.

‍50 years after David Hare’s trailblazing play set The Royal Court alight, Teeth 'N' Smiles is ready to burn things down all over again. The ship is sinking but the music remains the same.

A play with original music starring Rebecca Lucy Taylor (Self Esteem) as Maggie.