Self Esteem is magnetic in dated show

Teeth ‘N’ Smiles review and star rating: ★★

It’s unfortunate timing for playwright David Hare that Will Butler and David Adjmi’s Stereophonic, itself an electrifying rumination of life behind-the-scenes of life in a 1970s rock band, was one of the five-star hits of 2025. Its tender real-time examinations of relationships played out in exacting detail, serving as a granular analysis of the minutiae of backstage rocker life. The characters were so very believable that you cared as much about how they took their tea as how they made love: every line of detail meant something.

Teeth ‘N’ Smiles, inspired loosely by a real-life instance in which The Rolling Stones were forced to play to a snobby Oxbridge audience, premiered at the Royal Court 51 years ago. While it hasn’t dated in an obvious, thematic sense, it has in just about every other way.

None of that is particularly the fault of Self Esteem, aka Rebecca Lucy Taylor, the zeitgeisty British musician who is ravishing as the lead star, the self-destructive singer Maggie. She has rocked up to the Jesus College May Ball along with her disgruntled male band mates, some of whom are struggling with drug and alcohol addiction and the very fact that they absolutely do not want to be here: just about everything about them clashes with the socially conservative notion of Oxbridge.

It’s an intriguing premise, and Self Esteem’s live performances with the band (meta sections presented as live from the Ball) are compelling. Lucy Taylor has added new music to the original score by Nick Bicât (his brother Tony Bicât wrote the lyrics) and there is stage design by Chloe Lamford which transforms the Duke of York’s into a gig venue that feels properly, excitingly loose. But a series of challenges dull the drama’s emotional rage.

The band members feel fairly tropey, their drunkenness or drug states too often played to provoke a laugh rather than explore a raw emotion. The characters also feel underdeveloped, buried beneath excessive dialogue that too often culminates in meandering anecdotes. Director Daniel Raggett’s energetic production further distracts; novelties like having the cast constantly run on and off stage via the stalls seating feels fairly pointless in terms of adding anything to the drama.

The central conceit about being backstage at a show at Oxford is never really played out. It’s more of a thematic backdrop than literal one; the plot itself is more concerned with the three-way relationship between alcoholic Maggie, songwriter and former lover Arthur and manager Saraffian. But ultimately too many of the narrative arcs, fights and breakdowns feel contrived and surface-level. The exception is guitarist Peyote, who is flatly ridiculous, and talks entertainingly about how much he admires other rock stars for getting their junk out live on stage.

At points the heavy-handedness starts to feel cringey: how many times can a gag rely on someone stumbling around drunk? You end up wondering what the central narrative drive or jeopardy is supposed to be.

Teeth ‘N’ Smiles plays at the Duke of York’s until 6 June