Review: Really Good Exposure at Soho Theatre
⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Four Stars)
Megan Prescott’s one-woman play Really Good Exposure is a raw, deeply personal, and unflinchingly honest exploration of the experiences too often faced by women in the entertainment industry. Written and performed by Prescott, who draws inspiration from her own experiences as a child actor (famously playing Katie Fitch in Skins), stripper, and OnlyFans creator, the show blends autobiography with the stories of countless other women, making the fictional Molly Thomas’ journey feel both unique and universal.
We follow Molly from childhood, where dance competitions involving age-inappropriate costumes and adults’ comments about her body shape early insecurities, through her teen years as she signs with an agent and auditions for film and TV. The sweetly delivered monologue from The Little Mermaid she performs while holding a bobbing Flounder plush toy in one hand at an early audition is brilliantly juxtaposed with a later audition for a stripper role, in which Molly is unexpectedly asked to strip completely naked on the spot. Prescott’s decision to stage this scene with full nudity creates one of the most vulnerable and powerful moments in the show, perfectly illustrating Molly’s constant struggle to appear “professional” at the expense of her own comfort, safety, and boundaries being respected.
Molly’s breakout role in a hit teen drama (Meat, a thinly veiled nod to Skins) brings fame, but also deep discomfort as a sex scene shot when she was still a teenager becomes a lasting obstacle to other people’s perceptions of her and makes it difficult for her to set boundaries around nudity in future projects. Prescott navigates Molly’s transition into stripping and sex work with sensitivity, never shying away from the judgment, exploitation, and danger Molly faces, but also highlighting the agency she eventually finds through creating her own pornographic content and being able to set her own boundaries around who sees her body and in what context. The show’s advocacy for sex workers’ rights, punctuated by Prescott inviting audiences to take informational leaflets for the charity National Ugly Mugs which supports sex workers who have been the victims of crime at the end of the show, is refreshing and timely.
Prescott delivers a fantastic acting performance, portraying Molly with a combination of vulnerability, wit, and strength, making her feel authentic and relatable. The decision to use pre-recorded voices for all the other characters in Molly’s story is ambitious, but Prescott’s skill as a performer makes the interactions feel dynamic and alive. The minimal set design, little more than a projector indicating Molly’s age while she is a child and later turning into a porn site homepage with search queries being typed into the search bar between scenes, keeps the audience’s focus squarely on Prescott’s commanding storytelling.
If Really Good Exposure occasionally feels slightly rough around the edges, that rawness suits its subject matter perfectly. Prescott’s narrative voice is bold and authentic, providing the show with a combination of humour and biting social commentary.
Really Good Exposure runs at Soho Theatre until 13th September 2025.
Photo by Steve Ullathorne