Really Good Exposure at Soho Theatre Review
Written by Greta for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
From her earliest auditions, Molly Thomas is surrounded by adults who confuse “professionalism” with compliance. Casting directors, producers, agents; each one tests how much of herself she is willing to give away. Her hesitation to perform acts that make her uncomfortable is not met with respect and acceptance, but with accusations that she lacks commitment. The implication is always the same: everything is worth sacrificing in the pursuit of “success”, even at inenarrable personal cost.
Molly might be fictional, yet the performer framing her is very much real: Megan Prescott, best known for her breakthrough role as Katie Fitch in Skins, revisits her own experiences in the spotlight to shape the show’s narrative, and delivers a highly earnest performance.
Molly grows up in a home where her mother is both an alcoholic and emotionally stunted, pushing her daughter into the spotlight before she’s even old enough to know what it means. When asked about her birthday at show-and-tell, we realise the adults surrounding her have just swapped it with audition prep; she then performs her (definitely not age-appropriate) dance routine, proudly recounting an agent calling her a supermodel, at just nine years old. Moments showing her childlike creativity and love for performing also reveal how quickly others rush to box her in, policing her with sexist and fatphobic comments. Her mum’s influence looms large over all of it.
Framing the piece, searches on a database called “Flesh Tube”; the words keyed provide stark titles for each new chapter. These markers are often dehumanising, underlining how transactional the world around her is. Each scene peels back another layer of pressure, showing how Molly is nudged, coaxed, or outright bullied into believing that her worth as a performer lies in her willingness to be available, sexualised, and consumed.
None of this is sensationalised. The show’s honesty is its strength: Molly’s story is hers to tell, her body is hers to reclaim, and there is nothing morbid in watching her articulate the cruelty of an industry that treated her like livestock. It’s horrifying because it is authentic.
The piece is not without its dramaturgical wrinkles. A countdown to Molly’s “sweet sixteen” hangs in the air but is never returned to; some characters are voiced via recordings while others remain unseen and unheard, blurring the internal logic. Projections don’t always linger long enough to be read, and certain stretches drag, particularly when competing with the energy of a live performer on stage. The pacing can feel uneven, as if juggling one too many sections.
Still, the wider implications of the piece are undeniable. It becomes an advocacy platform for sex workers’ rights, complete with resources and reading material handed out afterwards. Prescott anchors the show in solidarity with sex workers’ rights and situates Molly’s experiences into a broader conversation about consent, grooming, and autonomy.
It’s clear that Molly’s experience is not an isolated tragedy but part of a structural pattern; her story points to a tapestry of women who have been commodified, vilified, and abused. It’s a reminder that before #MeToo there were no intimacy coordinators, no safeguards, and no public accountability for the exploiters, groomers, and abusers who thrived unchecked. To imagine the present as a perfect landscape would be naïve, and it remains vital to keep exposing and challenging the systems that allowed such harm to flourish.
Really Good Exposure plays at Soho Theatre until 13 September
★★★★
