Rebecca Lucy Taylor (Self Esteem) Will Lead West End Revival of David Hare's TEETH 'N' SMILES

The 50th Anniversary West End revival of David Hare's rebel play TEETH 'N' SMILES will be led by Rebecca Lucy Taylor, AKA Self Esteem, in her West End play debut. Directed by Daniel Raggett, TEETH 'N' SMILES will play at the Duke of York's Theatre for 12 weeks only from March 2026 with further casting, creative team and full dates to be announced soon.

Tickets will go on sale in October 2025. Audiences can sign up to access priority booking at teethnsmilesplay.com

Rebecca Lucy 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.”

David Hare said today "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.”

Daniel Raggett said today “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 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 and there couldn't be a better time for it to come roaring back into the West End. An extraordinary picture of a world, and a band, tearing itself apart at the seams - shot through with some really great songs - its spirit of rock n roll revolution/desperate howl of defiance feels just as pertinent now as it did in 1975.”

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.

Written by David Hare and directed by Daniel Raggett, TEETH 'N' SMILES has music by Nick Bicât and lyrics by Tony Bicât, with new additional music and lyrics by Rebecca Lucy Taylor.

Rebecca Lucy Taylor, AKA Self Esteem, returns to the stage following her hugely successful run playing Sally Bowles in the multiple Olivier Award-winning Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club in London's West End, where her time on stage was extended due to popular demand.

One of the UK's most exciting breakout stars of the past decade, Rebecca Lucy Taylor, emerged from cult favourite status to mainstream hero following the huge success of her empowering, truth-telling 2021 single ‘I Do This All The Time'. Her hugely acclaimed albums Prioritise Pleasure and this year's A Complicated Woman have garnered her an Ivor Novello Award and Album of the Year accolades from the Guardian and Sunday Times, alongside Mercury Prize, BRIT Award, Sky Arts and NME Award nominations. She releases her first book, also titled A Complicated Woman, on 30 October via Octopus Books / Hatchette. Taylor marks the book's release by co-curating the London Literature Festival at the Southbank on 1 November.