Rebecca Lucy Taylor to star in West End revival of Hare’s Teeth ’n’ Smiles

Rebecca Lucy Taylor, known to music fans as Self Esteem, will star in the 50th anniversary revival of David Hare’s rock ’n’ roll play at the Duke of York’s Theatre from March 2026.

Self Esteem makes her West End play debut

Wessex Grove and Gavin Kalin Productions have announced a new revival of David Hare’s Teeth ’n’ Smiles, returning 50 years after its explosive debut at the Royal Court in 1975. The production will run for twelve weeks at the Duke of York’s Theatre from March 2026, directed by Daniel Raggett and starring Rebecca Lucy Taylor — better known as the pop artist Self Esteem — in her first leading role in a West End play.

Taylor has quickly become one of the UK’s most compelling stage presences. After the breakout success of her 2021 single I Do This All The Time and two acclaimed albums (Prioritise Pleasure and A Complicated Woman), she made her theatrical debut in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, extending her run as Sally Bowles due to popular demand. She has since collected an Ivor Novello Award, Album of the Year accolades from The Guardian and The Sunday Times, and nominations for the Mercury Prize, BRITs, Sky Arts and NME Awards. Her first book, also titled A Complicated Woman, is published this October, followed by a curating role at the London Literature Festival in November.

Announcing her casting, Taylor said: “I’m deeply honoured to be bringing Teeth ’n’ Smiles back for its 50th anniversary. I love to challenge myself in new forms and I can’t wait to slap you round the face with Maggie. I am a huge fan of Daniel and David’s work, and the chance to collaborate with them on such a landmark production is something I am insanely excited about.”

A play steeped in rock history

Hare’s play is set on the night of a Cambridge college ball in 1969, where faded countercultural bandmates confront their disillusionment as the dream of anarchic rebellion collapses into bitterness. At its centre is Maggie Frisby — once the roaring voice of sixties radicalism, now broke, furious and fuelled by booze. The original 1975 production, featuring Helen Mirren as Maggie, was notorious for its mix of sex, drugs, despair and live music on stage.

For Raggett, the work’s rawness remains undimmed: “I first read David’s play over a decade ago and it seared itself into my brain. I’ve wanted to direct it ever since and — thanks to the vision of Wessex Grove — I feel so lucky to be working on this revival alongside David, Nick, Tony and the incomparable Rebecca Lucy Taylor, who brings the whole thing alive as Maggie. Like me, she responded to this fifty-year-old play as if it were written yesterday … its spirit of rock ’n’ roll revolution, its desperate howl of defiance feels just as pertinent now as it did in 1975.”

Hare himself welcomed the new team: “I can’t think of anything more exciting than watching Rebecca Lucy Taylor and Dan Raggett strip the varnish off my old play. It’s a perfect moment to see if a new generation responds to that 70s mix of hope, drugs, music, sex and despair.”

New music and fresh collaborators

The revival will reunite Hare with original collaborators Nick Bicât (music) and Tony Bicât (lyrics), while also incorporating new material from Taylor herself. This rare melding of theatre history and contemporary pop sensibility positions Teeth ’n’ Smiles both as period piece and live gig.

The play’s legacy stretches back to its Royal Court premiere in 1975, when it rattled audiences with its portrayal of disillusioned youth culture. In 2026, it will arrive in a West End steeped in jukebox musicals but lean on grit rather than nostalgia.

Tickets and booking

Teeth ’n’ Smiles will run for twelve weeks only at the Duke of York’s Theatre, St Martin’s Lane, from March 2026. Tickets go on general sale in October 2025, with audiences invited to sign up now for priority booking at teethnsmilesplay.com.

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Runs for twelve weeks at the Duke of York’s Theatre from March 2026. Visit Teeth ’n’ Smiles.

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