Review: MISS I-DOLL, The Other Palace

Entertainment is rotten business. Never mind all the allegations against big (normally male) names that regularly appear on our screens, superstardom is a road paved with dubious morals and forced subduedness. From Britney Spears to Miley Cyrus, from Robbie Williams to Boyzone, regardless of your gender, the industry will chew you up and spit you out. Reality TV competitions are the biggest perpetrators. Yet, Mia and her rivals seem to desire nothing else. But just before the final of Miss I-Doll, the hottest show on telly, a switch is flicked: this is a chance to turn the cameras towards what’s really going on. This entirely original one-woman musical is a firecracker. 

Written by Tobia Rossi and Oliver Lidert with a score by Simone Manfredini, a bubblegum exterior hides an unforgiving OTT satire that pulls no punches. This daring approach sees delicious political jabs and pop culture references coexist in quite the imperfectly accomplished production led by an indefatigable actor. It’s a true acting feat for Daisy Steere, who whizzes through an hour and a half of somersaulting into her collection of vibrant, hilarious characters. Coming through in the shape of a stripped-piano keyboard for the occasion, Manfredini’s buzzy melodies are an eclectic mix of contemporary musical theatre tunes and modern pop influences.

Directed by Ruthie Stephens, Steere commands the stage with a precise comic performance and fully defined roles for an hour and a half of unrelenting energy. There’s no pretence of realism while she instigates a series of push-and-pull exchanges between her various selves. Besides the clever, rebellious Mia, Steere is a mouthy nepo-baby, an ultra-religious Irish girl, the daughter of a toff, and a doomsday prepper herded by a ruthless producer. They’re stereotypical figurines that fit into the cogs of show business. Whether consciously or not, the writing plays into the thigh-fitting pigeon holes these women belong to by offering little sympathy or well-roundedness to them.

Though Miss I-Doll is already fairly complete even at this first outing, Mia is slightly engulfed by the rest of the (very interesting and very amusing) personalities. Combine it with a denouement that happens at lighting speed with too much do-goodery and you’ll find the crack in an otherwise solid piece of satirical theatre. Mia’s sudden radicalisation exposes corporate hypocrisy and condemns a system that thrives on reactionary figures but doesn’t take responsibility for any duty of care. Once you strip off all the irreverent fun and industry-specific observational humour, it’s a story about greed and the optics of the trade.

Alongside the voice of Big Sis (Natalie Casey) who drives the movement forward as a presenter of sorts, a few GoggleBox participants (also played by Steere) make their scandal-hungry opinions known, speaking for a country whose obsession with reality television doesn’t go beyond the glitzy prime time shine of it. Though it might need a bit of polishing in and around its plot points, it already has all the right cards to be a cult musical.

Miss I-Doll runs at The Other Palace until 9 March.

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