Rebecca Lucy Taylor in Teeth ‘n’ Smiles [Helen Murray]

THIS is the 50th anniversary West End revival of David Hare’s play with music Teeth ‘n’ Smiles.

Maggie Frisby (Rebecca Lucy Taylor, AKA Self Esteem), an addled and jaded singer, is due to perform at a May Ball at a Cambridge college. It’s June 1969, the end of an era, and punk is just round the corner.

Her band had once been part of 1960s counterculture, but now they’re skint and wondering why they’re playing such a poorly paid gig for an unappreciative crowd and whether whisky-swigging Maggie will make it on stage at all.

Her relationships with songwriter Arthur (Michael Fox) and manager Saraffian (Phil Daniels) are also strained.

In Daniel Raggett’s assured production, the songs by Nick and Tony Bicât, with some additions by Taylor, are solid, and the band deliver them with terrific high-octane power on Chloe Lamford’s versatile set.

It’s an inspired choice to have Taylor, a singer-songwriter in her own right, in the lead role.

She gives an astonishing vocal performance and conveys Maggie’s self-destructive streak.

But aside from its theme of misogyny in the rock world, Hare’s 1975 play feels like a period piece with little to say to a contemporary audience long used to watching rock stars burn out or fade from sight.

Still, Taylor will surely draw her fans to the play and new audiences for old work can’t be a bad thing.

Until June 6
teethnsmilesplay.com