Teeth ’n’ Smiles review – Self Esteem makes a mesmeric rock star but the drama doesn’t dazzle

2026-03-26 - 00:19

Duke of York’s theatre, London 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 David Hare’s 1975 play Teeth ’n’ Smiles captured the melancholy mood of a generation as it looked back on the lost counter-cultural idealism of 1969. It is a play full of endings: a rock band teetering at the close of its platform-heeled life, frontwoman Maggie and songwriter Arthur packing up their relationship, and Europe and its music industry at the end of an era. The hippy bubble of love, hope and revolution has most definitely burst as Maggie and the gang limber up for a gig at a Cambridge University ball. It is quite a comedown from the venues of their heyday but they are not about to go gently into that good night. Continue reading...