Review: I Was A Teenage She-Devil (The Other Palace)

Review by Sam Woodward

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Big hair, bigger guitars, and enough 80s attitude to fill a much larger theatre, I Was a Teenage She-Devil arrives at The Other Palace in a blaze of camp, chaos and neon-lit ambition. Sean Matthew Whiteford’s cult rock musical throws us into a world of teenage longing, high school hierarchy and devilish temptation with complete confidence in its own brand of camp excess. The question is whether all that neon-soaked chaos adds up to more than a very loud good time.

The show has had a long road to this London run, first emerging in New York in an earlier form before finding fresh life at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe. That cult sensibility is still very much intact here, with the musical proudly wearing its love of 80s horror, teen movie clichés and rock concert excess on its fishnet-clad sleeve. Nancy is the awkward outsider at DP High School, permanently tormented by resident queen bee Tiffani, until a visit from Satan offers her a rather more dramatic route to revenge, and a very different kind of makeover. What follows is a tale of lust, power and popularity, told with more than a hint of camp horror fun.

Whiteford’s writing has plenty of fun with the show’s knowingly outrageous premise, and there are moments when that playful self-awareness really works. Some of the one-liners land well, the pop culture references get laughs, and the physical comedy gives the evening real momentum. At its best, the script understands exactly the sort of camp teen horror world it wants to create. But it does not always build much beyond that, with some of the characterisation and dialogue leaning a little too heavily on cliché, and the show never quite finding a deeper point beneath all the attitude.

Rachel Klein’s direction leans fully into the show’s sense of excess, keeping the action fast, loud and consistently animated. This is a musical that clearly wants to feel big, and there is something genuinely impressive about the way Klein manages to stage something so ambitious on the small studio stage at The Other Palace. At times, that scale still feels slightly at odds with the space available, as though a much larger production has been compressed into a smaller room. Even so, the show is handled with confidence and flair, and the energy rarely drops for a second.

At the centre of it all, Aoife Haakenson gives Nancy a huge amount of commitment, carrying the show with impressive stamina as she sings, dances and throws herself fully into its heightened comic world. She anchors the evening with real presence, even when the writing does not always give her quite enough depth to work with. Around her, Caitlin Anderson brings glorious mean-girl energy to Tiffani, while Sean Arkless makes for a hugely entertaining Satan, full of swagger, presence and exactly the right sense of theatrical mischief.

The wider company is just as impressive in the way they keep the production constantly alive around them. There is a real sense of collective effort in every scene, with the cast maintaining the show’s energy at full throttle while also delivering strong vocals, sharp choreography and plenty of well-judged physical comedy. That level of precision and sustained momentum is no small feat, and it is the cast’s commitment more than anything else that keeps the evening as enjoyable as it is.

The design elements help enormously in building the show’s world. Emily Bestow’s set makes clever use of the space, with the grid proving particularly effective in giving the production shape and visual variety without overcomplicating things. Adam King’s lighting is another real asset, adding plenty of atmosphere and helping to push the show’s camp horror aesthetic in all the right ways. Alongside the costumes and the strong 80s visual identity running throughout, the design does a lot of heavy lifting in creating a world that feels bigger, bolder and more exciting than the space initially suggests.

The music also plays a big part in the show’s appeal. There is something undeniably enjoyable about the way the score leans into its 80s influences, giving the evening much of its pulse and helping to sustain that sense of heightened rock musical fun. Several numbers land well on pure energy alone, and musically the show often feels more confident than it does dramatically. At the same time, the songs do not always deepen the storytelling in the way they need to, meaning that while the music keeps the evening lively, it cannot quite solve the shakier elements of the plot.

There is plenty to enjoy in I Was a Teenage She-Devil, not least a cast who work unbelievably hard and a production team who bring real style to an undeniably ambitious show. Its camp horror world is vividly realised, and there is enough humour, energy and theatrical flair to keep the evening entertaining throughout. But for all its attitude and commitment, the show never quite finds the sharper point or stronger emotional pull that might have lifted it higher. Still, as a loud, lively and lovingly excessive slice of retro rock musical chaos, it proves a good time, even if it falls short of a truly devilish triumph.

I Was A Teenage She-Devil plays at The Other Palace until 26 April. Tickets from theotherpalace.co.uk/i-was-a-teenage-she-devil/ 

Photos by Lidia Crisafulli