REALLY GOOD EXPOSURE
Soho Theatre
★★★★
“Prescott’s writing is dynamic and light”
In ‘Really Good Exposure’, Megan Prescott charts the fictional Molly Thomas’ evolution from teenage starlet to porn star. Prescott, who appeared as Katie Finch in the hit teen series ‘Skins’ in the 2000s, draws on her own and others’ lived experiences of exploitation and grooming in the entertainment industry to address a plethora of issues: the sexualisation of minors, the financial barriers to the pursuit of a creative career, and women’s (lack of) agency in the commercialisation of their bodies. In doing so, the actor-writer weaves a compelling and intersectional, if somewhat didactic, web.
Prescott delivers a strong and self-assured performance, easily filling the stage at the Soho Theatre all by herself. Her portrayal of Molly Thomas alternatively as a child, a teenager, and a young adult feels sincere and consistent. In this, she is aided by Hattie North’s precise and extensive sound design, particularly the many recorded voices that Molly constantly converses with – her mother, her agent, a casting director. Recordings, of course, inherently don’t really ‘respond’ to a performer like a fellow actor might, underlining the unyielding nature of the characters’ demands of Molly. Additionally, the voices’ incorporeality (if I may) reinforces the central fact that the characters they portray all profit off of Molly’s body, and her body alone. Director Fiona Kingwill dresses Prescott in a bedazzled set of underwear even in the scenes from Molly’s childhood, allowing her to highlight continuities between sex workers’ costumes and what girls wear in dance competitions, for example. It’s touches like these that make the interplay between Prescott’s acting and Kingwill’s staging of the play feel refined.
However, Kingwill’s heavy dependence on tech sometimes takes away from the emotional punches the script delivers, particularly in the latter half of the play. Though Rachel Sampley’s lighting design is beautifully done, the videos she created to be projected to the back of the stage sometimes overpower Prescott, while montages of tweets and newspaper headlines felt unnecessary and teetered on cliché. The overreliance on tech is best illustrated by the effectiveness of a moment in which it is turned down: in a central scene, Molly is essentially forced to strip naked while auditioning to play a stripper. Her anguish comes across very well precisely because there’s no projection and the music is eerily quiet, as if being played in an empty dancing hall. Literally nude on stage, Molly comes across as ‘truly’ naked for the first time because she cannot hide behind loud music, stage lights, or projections.
Prescott’s writing is dynamic and light, though it loses some of its focus towards the end of the play, with the scenes in which Molly partakes in ‘Romance Reef’ (a.k.a. Love Island) feeling rather gimmicky. Additionally, the final monologue takes on an overly didactic tone. As Molly, Prescott essentially tells the audience how the show is meant to be interpreted, spelling out the message that sex work can be about taking control of your body and sexuality. It is a powerful and controversial stance in a world where sex workers are simultaneously portrayed as helpless victims and arbiters of immorality, but I wish Prescott had let her work speak for itself more. A layered piece about a divisive topic, ‘Really Good Exposure’ offers a night of thought-provoking entertainment.
REALLY GOOD EXPOSURE
Soho Theatre
Reviewed on 3rd September 2025
by Lola Stakenburg
Photography by Damian Robertson
Recently reviewed at Soho Theatre venues:
JUSTIN VIVIAN BOND: SEX WITH STRANGERS | ★★★★★ | July 2025
ALEX KEALY: THE FEAR | ★★★★ | June 2025
KIERAN HODGSON: VOICE OF AMERICA | ★★★★★ | June 2025
HOUSE OF LIFE | ★★★★★ | May 2025
JORDAN GRAY: IS THAT A C*CK IN YOUR POCKET, OR ARE YOU JUST HERE TO KILL ME? | ★★★★★ | May 2025
WHAT IF THEY ATE THE BABY? | ★★★★★ | March 2025
