David Hare’s 1975 play, “Teeth ‘n’ Smiles,” a visceral portrayal of a hippie band’s drug-fueled implosion, is currently undergoing a revival. Originally shedding light on the nihilistic underbelly of 1970s rock, the question arises: what can this decades-old drama still reveal about the music business today? Playwright David Hare and musician Rebecca Lucy Taylor, better known as Self Esteem, delve into its continued relevance.
Self Esteem recalls her initial encounter with the script as a mind-blowing experience. “I couldn’t believe it,” she states, finding a profound reflection of her own life and the contemporary music industry within the play’s pages. “It just mirrors what the music industry today is like.”
Such a sentiment might appear surprising, as “Teeth ‘n’ Smiles” could easily be categorized as a period piece. Set in 1969, the narrative follows a band’s chaotic disintegration, fueled by drugs, alcohol, and violence backstage at a Cambridge May Ball. Hare’s inspiration stemmed from observing a “grumpy, angry, miserable” Manfred Mann performance during his time as a student at Jesus College. The play touches on the late-60s countercultural “acid dream” and the belief in rock music as a catalyst for social change. However, its true essence lies less in the era it depicts and more in the disillusionment and simmering discontent of the mid-1970s, the period of its creation, when the countercultural dream had unequivocally dissolved.