Review: Really Good Exposure, Soho Theatre

Really Good Exposure begins with a countdown. Projected on the back of the stage, a page from a tabloid paper: only five years until Molly Thomas’s (Megan Prescott) sweet sixteen! It’s an image that sets the tone for the 70 minutes to come, reminiscent of Natalie Portman’s reflections on the media counting down the days until she was ‘legal’. Molly is eleven years old.

At a show and tell, she proudly recounts her latest dance competition adventure to her classmates. Her mum has been taking her to dance classes, but she’s not allowed to have McDonald’s afterwards anymore. Her mum says that girls who go to McDonald’s get chunky thighs, and that won’t help her to be successful in her career. We see Molly a few years later, getting her first agent, then booking an edgy teen drama at 16. Her appearance on this show, Meat, is the turning point in her life, a role that will haunt and define her for years to come.

Really Good Exposure takes on a lot of issues in its short runtime, but never feels overstuffed. Instead, it’s an unyielding but regrettably realistic reflection of the world, examining body shaming, misogyny, sex workers’ rights, the ethics of child actors, the post-Me Too film industry, and more. Pushed out of the acting world and ending up in porn, the play is framed by an interview with an executive keen to hear about Molly’s experiences in the world of entertainment. Her story is not an unfamiliar one, but that doesn’t make it any easier to hear.

Whenever Molly shows reluctance to film a sex scene, a nude scene, anything outside of her comfort zone, she’s mocked for being unprofessional or uncommitted, told that she’s not taking the work seriously. Everyone does it, it’s basically an act of empowerment, of feminism, she’s told. Yet when she owns her own sexuality and chooses to make money from it of her own volition (or, really, as much of her own volition as she can given various circumstances), she’s shamed, told she’s holding back women’s rights, attacked both by so-called feminists and the men who sexualise her. It’s a lose-lose situation.

The fact that all the events of the play are taken from real people’s experiences reaffirms the awfulness of it all. Horrors are both direct and discrete. Some events are recounted directly, while other factors quietly pervade the narrative. Molly’s costume never changes, for example; she’s perpetually clad in a bright blue sparkly matching set with a bow in her hair, from her childhood dance show costume to her work in porn. Comments on her appearance are unending, from her family, from agents, from the media, from online trolls. The balance of directness and subtlety is perfect, and ensures that the piece never speaks down to its audience.

Technically, Really Good Exposure is exceptionally executed. Many of the conversations Molly has, with her agent, her friend and various casting directors, are performed with pre-recorded tracks. Somehow, Prescott manages to make these interactions feel entirely natural, spontaneous even. Yet this device is not overused – at points, such as in conversations with her mother, we only hear Molly’s side of things.

This is a heavy play, one that will stay with you. Prescott’s confident performance and unflinching social criticisms make for a powerhouse, must-watch show.

Written and directed by: Megan Prescott

Really Good Exposure plays at Soho Theatre until Saturday 13 September.