Teeth 'N' Smiles review: Self Esteem is the British female rock star we never had

It's very common when imagining the world of '60s rock and roll, to conjure up an image tainted with Hollywood glamour. To see the life of drink, drugs and sex while travelling on the road through the rose-tinted lens of an Annie Leibovitz photoshoot. So it's unbelievably refreshing when you get a rather more British take on it, that is a seedy, unkempt, patchwork version, that literally reeks of cigar smoke and every single thing on stage is brown.

This is the world of David Hare's Teeth 'N' Smiles, a play originally written in 1975 when the idealistic world of classic rock was fading into raw defiance of punk, when, as Hare puts it, conversations about "civil rights and the radical overhaul of society" had become "drinkers talking about themselves and their relationships".

The premise is simple and based on a real-world instance, when The Rolling Stones, at the peak of fame, were booked to perform at an Oxford University ball, leading him to the question: what happens when you put the dry, cynical world of rock and roll in the stately setting of a posh university?

It is here we meet the cult band Maggie Frisby and the Skins, playing three sets at the Jesus College May Ball at Cambridge University on a night when everything, particularly Maggie, seems to be disintegrating.

Rebecca Lucy Taylor (AKA singer Self Esteem) leads the gig and, to start, she is utterly flawless. Her performance as a bedraggled, suffering Maggie, who navigates a comedown, lost love and the existential crisis that she's never made it to the big leagues, is pure magic. She carries all the energy and magnetism of a Janis Joplin or a Stevie Nicks leading us to question how many rock and roll women went under the radar back then. Her performance brings a spark of life to the stage every time she appears and her vocals – which I'll come back to – are second to none.

Also a highlight was Jojo Macari as the tragically comic Peyote, who easily drew the eye in most scenes thanks in part to an incredible array of bright costumes. He and the rest of the band members had a zingy chemistry with plenty of bouncy back-and-forth.

Michael Fox's Arthur was also a strong presence on stage, as the band's songwriter he represented the more privileged, intellectualised side of '60s idealism that came across as effectively (and I hope intentionally) insufferable.

This clashing, however, is where the show sometimes came undone. When blending the earthy, uncouth nature of drug-fuelled band-life with summer of love-style philosophy, the dialogue becomes choppy and sees characters go on "deep" tangents that don't really serve anyone but the play's own self-image. This leads to a bit too much hopping around for my liking, especially in act 2, when I was craving more music and more Rebecca Lucy Taylor over the endless monologues.

Any faults, however, were vanished entirely from stage when the music started and a kind of raw magic began. The songs from Maggie Frisby and the Skins's set were originally written by Nick Bicât and Tony Bicât, with new music and lyrics from Taylor, and they were just perfect. The sound was beautifully authentic with the singers adapting their voices to resemble the classic raspy tones of the likes of The Who, Fleetwood Mac and The Rolling Stones. My biggest takeaway from the show is the hope that an album will be released after its run, because I would bet most casual music fans would be unable to tell the difference.

Teeth 'N' Smiles will play at the Duke of York's Theatre until June 2026. Tickets are available now at ATG Tickets.

Buy Teeth 'N' Smiles tickets at ATG Tickets

Make sure you also check out our full guide to the best West End shows and our story of how Shakespeare ended up on an EasyJet flight.