I WAS A TEENAGE SHE-DEVIL

The Other Palace

★★★

“Almost sung through, and brilliantly so, the musical has still to find its voice”

The rock musical, “I Was a Teenage She-Devil”, opens with a bang; and as though aware that the only way is up, it keeps the energy levels pushing the high end of the rev meter to danger point. Eighty minutes and twenty-two songs later we are a little bit breathless. The show’s protagonist claims she has been to ‘Hell and back’, but it would be a stretch for us to make a similar assertion. It really isn’t deep enough to get anywhere near the underworld.

Sean Matthew Whiteford, the one responsible for the book, music, lyrics and orchestrations, hit upon the idea fifteen years ago. Originally titled “Girlfriend from Hell” it is a mash up of eighties, horror, cult movies and high school musical. ‘Grease’ meets ‘Cruel Intentions’, with a deal with the Devil thrown in among the many other gore-infested influences. On paper it is a chaotic mess. On stage it is similarly anarchic and shambolic, yet it knows precisely its target audience and goes straight for the jugular.

The premise is wafer-thin (as are the characters). Set in an American High School, Nancy (Aoife Haakenson) is the four-eyed, nerdy wallflower ostracised by the popular kids – the jocks and the cheerleaders and the cool ones. Bullied to breaking point she cries out for help. To the rescue comes Satan (Sean Arkless) with an offer she can’t refuse. The price is her soul. Obviously. The outcome is a bit of a bloodbath. Revenge is far from sweet, but redemption is a sugar rush.

Tiffani (Caitlin Anderson) is banned from the cheerleader squad for being cruel to Nancy. Aided by her boyfriend Big Rod (Jordan Fox) she decides to humiliate Nancy. We are not sure why Nancy delves into such pits of despair – she seems to be supported by (very) close friend Debbie (Ashley Goh). But love is blind, remember, and before we can open our eyes we have to experience the darkness. We know exactly where this story is going, every step of the way. Yet it is a funny and farcical romp through the guitar-powered score and the witty dialogue, firmly rooted in the eighties. There are constant references to the movies that inform the text, many of which would go over our heads if it weren’t for video-store worker Doobie (Jacob Birch) on hand to explain the joke. Completing the line up are Todd (Louis Hearsey) and Heather (Charis Stockton).

The script, like the song list, highlights the ensemble nature of the show. The supporting characters have some of the best lines, and everyone has their solo number. All eight cast members have the vocal ability, agility and variety to scale the heights of the rock belt and also to dip into the smooth waters of the ballads (Goh, in particular, achieves this with the dynamic ‘Looking for Love’). They say the Devil has all the best tunes, but here he has to share them with his co-stars. ‘Raise Some Hell’ is exactly what it says on the tin – an ensemble piece heralding Nancy’s transformation into spiky bad girl. Arkless’ Satan is more seventies Glam, while wearing the studded jockstrap pilfered form eighties band Cameo’s lead singer. It (the song – not necessarily the jockstrap) is a highlight, bathed in smoke, red light and gleeful appreciation from the audience. We are in Rocky Horror territory at times (‘Satanic Panic’), but the bulk of the repertoire – along with the hair styles and costume – is power pop through and through.

Director and choreographer Rachel Klein has her work cut out keeping the cast within the confines of the venue’s studio space. With the audience up close, and with the abundance of severed limbs flying around, safety must be an issue. And there’s the crux. The show errs on the safe and the predictable. A superficiality, and a mildness even, that the high-octane performances can’t disguise. Almost sung through, and brilliantly so, the musical has still to find its voice. While the characters are either looking for love or revenge or blood, we are looking for the teeth that can draw that blood. It won’t raise Hell. But it is easy to swallow, and a whole lot of fun with a devilishly fine cast.

I WAS A TEENAGE SHE-DEVIL

The Other Palace

Reviewed on 8th April 2026

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Lidia Crisafulli

I WAS A TEENAGE SHE-DEVIL

★★★

“We haven’t learned a lot, but the craic has been grand”

The New Wimbledon Theatre’s website categorises “Seven Drunken Nights” as a concert. The press release’s headline claims it is the ‘story of the Dubliners’ – one of Ireland’s most iconic folk bands. Both announce that it is a celebration. Of that we can be totally sure. Now in its tenth year on the road, the production is still delighting audiences with its faithful arrangements of Irish classics. The eight-piece band – led by the creator, writer and director Ged Graham – fill the venue with the reels and ballads we have come to know and love.

Whether it is the story of The Dubliners is questionable. There is a fair bit of narration between the numbers, mostly delivered by Graham. If you are already a fan it is decidedly superfluous, if you’re coming at it afresh then it is equally irrelevant. The story telling is limited, restricting itself to dates and personnel changes; nothing that isn’t covered by a couple of column inches on Wikipedia. Bizarrely the back wall sports a giant video screen which frequently interrupts the action with vintage adverts for Beamish stout, Murphys or Harp lager. I guess it is supposed to enhance the effect that we are sitting in the back room of a Dublin pub somewhere in the seventies. More specifically O’Donoghue’s, tucked away on Merrion Row near St Stephen’s Green, which is where the band cut its teeth. The Dubliners were originally known as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group (once mistakenly billed as The Ronnie Drew Ballet Group). Fellow band member, Luke Kelly, decided the name was misrepresentative, so looking up from his copy of James Joyce’s ‘Dubliners’, suggested their new name.

The show is named after The Dubliners’ chart hit from the sixties – “Seven Drunken Nights”, and is essentially a tribute act. With no introduction we are singing along to ‘The Wild Rover’, ‘The Irish Rover’, ‘The Leaving of Liverpool’, ‘Dirty Old Town’, ‘Finnegan’s Wake’ and many, many others. Without attempting to replicate the original line up, the band members give note prefect renditions of the songs with their full vocals and expert musicianship. In the background, a barman is serving pints of Guiness – visibly ‘Guiness Zero’ however – a reflection of the slight edge of sanitised inauthenticity. For the full effect we would need to be in a sweaty bar room, thick with cigarette smoke. Something is lost in the translation to a theatre auditorium.

But that doesn’t stop the charismatic personalities of the cast bringing us to our feet. Scattered among the toe tapping and hand clapping are moments of poignancy. An A Capella interlude demonstrates the glorious harmonies these singers are capable of, and a stripped back version of ‘Dublin in the Rare Old Times’ is soaked in nostalgia; also paying tribute to past ‘Dubliners’ members who are no longer with us. At one point, Ged Graham is alone on stage to give us a powerful yet mournful rendition of ‘The Town I Loved so Well’.

The show’s encore feels like an after-hours lock-in, for which we are grateful that we have hung around until closing time to be included in. There have been moments during the preceding two and a half hours when we have lost connection. The story jumps somewhat, then abruptly stops at the late eighties. Neither is there any political or social reference. The absence in the repertoire of the rebel songs, the anti-war themes and socialist overtones is perhaps a necessary choice, but it dilutes the history, and consequently the importance, of The Dubliners’ legacy. By now, though, the audience doesn’t seem to care. We are clapping along, not necessarily in time, and raucously singing along. Not necessarily in tune. What is spot-on, however, is the enthusiasm – on and off the stage. ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ morphs into the lower tempo ‘Molly Malone’. We haven’t learned a lot, but the craic has been grand.

Tag Archives: Jonathan Evans

I WAS A TEENAGE SHE-DEVIL

★★★

The Other Palace

I WAS A TEENAGE SHE-DEVIL

The Other Palace

★★★

“Almost sung through, and brilliantly so, the musical has still to find its voice”