Review: Miss I-Doll (The Other Palace)

Review by Sam Waite

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Having been a teenager in the mid-aughts, I can’t quite shake an enjoyment for crass, overproduced “reality” programming, particularly where there’s a competitive element. Whether vying to join Simon Cowell’s media empire, score a spot as the newest Pussycat Doll, or make their Broadway debut with their best Witherspoon impression, there’s a perverse joy in what increased knowledge has turned into decidedly guilty pleasures. Miss I-Doll, a new musical playing in The Other Palace’s downstairs studio, strives to both cultivate and critique not only the content, but the blend of fanatical devotion and scoffing revulsion these shows are often magnets for.

It's the final round of the 2025 Miss I-Doll competition, with exhaustingly perky host Anita Johnson and the unseen announcer Big Sis welcoming us to the live finale, where one of five competitors will be crowned. Braving challenges from the five-thousand-woman mud-wrestling opening round to escaping the House of Toxic Masculinity, all under the watchful eyes of producer Maria, our quintet of wannabe I-Dolls are only two live trials and an audience vote away from their dreams.

Our contestants are:

-       Veronica, who found her own way to healing through travel and spa treatments, because mental health is not just for poor people.

-       Prudence, a sweet and chaste young woman who simply wants to spread the love of her Lord in heaven.

-       Ren, never Lauren, a sporty young lass who thinks staying fighting fit will keep us all safe when AI takes over.

-       Sammy Sire, not to be confused with actor/dad Sammi Sire, who she was not named after and is definitely a really good actor, like!

-       Mia, the airheaded also-ran who no one can quite believe has made it this far.

With this set of rivals, producer Maria, presenter Anita, a wealthy sponsor, and a handful of pre-recorded roles as viewers at home, you could imagine that Miss I-Doll calls for a great deal of talent, and you would be correct. You could also imagine that it calls for a decent number of actors, about which you would be mistaken. Indeed, aside from Natalie Casey’s unseen Big Sis, every character whether live on stage or shown on screen is played by Daisy Steere. Of course, one-actor fare with them covering every role in par for the course, but I can’t think of any other one-hander with quite so much quickfire dialogue between two or more characters. Whether a comment on the interchangeability of TV personalities, or simply a whim on the part of the creators, Miss I-Doll proves a strong showcase for Steere’s wide comedic range.

Steere’s characterisations begin with a nice touch from director Ruthie Stephens, each of the hopefuls having a signature posture which identifies them before a single word is said. Whether Sammy’s pout and peace sign or Prudence clutching her crucifix, the moment Steere switches from one character to the next we know who she will be. Stephens also opts not to shy away from how awkward a conversation with oneself can be, having her star drop into a seat only to immediately fling herself up from it, or grasp onto the mic stand as Anita having just done a quick-fire scene as all five contestants – “I’m tired just watching them!” she quips. The blocking keeps a firm control on the imagined locales, the characters spaced out evenly and Stephens careful to never have Steere step where we know another of her characters is already standing.

The script, from Tobia Rossi and Oliver Lidert, creates some sense of tension and of risk, but keeps to the tongue-in-cheek approach consistently. Following the introductions to the five hopefuls, their story kicks in when a head injury gives a new focus to Mia, who producer Maria learns blacks out and goes on vengeful tangents when such blows occur. Desperate to get the competition back on track by removing the source of this new controversy, Maria is then encouraged by their sponsor to keep Mia in the game, her foul-mouthed tirade bringing them their best ratings yet. It’s as delightfully absurd as it sounds, and Rossi and Lidert know better than to try and add much dramatic weight to the proceedings.

Pop culture references both recent and from this type of show’s heyday are abundant, be they a reverent protection of working class Rolls Royce-passenger Victoria Beckham’s famed black dress, a social media site changing its long-established name to a nonsensical letter (or three, in this case, K, K, and… well, I’ll let you guess!) or the budding friendship between a home economics icon and a legendary gangster rapper. In truth the onslaught of gags can become a bit much, their frequency and pointedness high enough that you might stop to question whether the Epsteins and Diddys of the world are a too bleak matter to make such throwaway jokes from. Still, I ought not to stay on that high horse any longer, given that I laughed at most if not all – and embarrassingly loudly at least once.

With music from Simone Manfredini, Miss I-Doll makes the bold choice to be a musical, but not to have the series at its centre focus on singing. This can be difficult to reckon with at first, the branding being so vividly Idol-influences, but the songs are so detached from the classic pop songs we’ve heard covered time and time again that it’s easy to look past. Fitting instead into a contemporary musical theatre mould, only five songs are listed in Miss I-Doll’s programme, though there are several reprises and snatches of sung dialogue between them. While not the most memorable or hummable of tunes, the songs are certainly enjoyable, and fit well with the dialogue and approach to storytelling throughout, tongue-in-cheek and without a semblance of self-seriousness.

Given the minimal space in the downstairs studio, you could certainly be forgiven for assuming that Ellie Wintour would struggle to do much in the way of staging. In a remarkable example of doing a lot with so little, Wintour manages to convincingly present a backstage experience at a sleazy reality show, detached spotlights littering the back of the stage, glaring, oversized bulbs illuminating Steere’s characters, and a small, suitably sterile-looking waiting area tucked into a corner. Coupled with the aggressive branding associated with these ratings-hungry competitions, it really is easy to believe that we’ve stepped into the studio producing the Miss I-Doll competition. The aforementioned array of blinding light is well-utilised by Alistair Lindsay, who throws us right into a garishly-lit performance with the deliberate unsubtlety appropriate to this send-up of trash TV.

Of course, the real success story is Daisy Steere. Whether as her trio of pre-filmed viewers, the array of wacky characters, or as down to earth Mia, Steere shows exceptional range and gracefully navigates genuine growth in several of her characters. Where Natalie Casey brings the requisite blankness and faux-relatability to Big Sis, Steere manages to imbue all of her parts with genuine personality, and to make us root for several of them even as the plot becomes just that bit too manic, that touch too convoluted, to fully get behind. As things ramped up, the story lost some of my attention, but Steere kept me in her gasp throughout.

Whether you consider reality television a genuine joy, a guilty pleasure, or something to keep your nose firmly turned up at, Miss I-Doll shares and validates your feelings. They criticise because they care, lampoon because they love, and the team here take the time to truly understand just what it is that draws people from all walks of life to their TVs on a Saturday evening to cheer on their would-be champions. Is it high art? Definitely not. Will it change the world? Goodness, no. Is it a triumphant evening at the theatre? Undoubtedly, yes.

Miss I-Doll plays in the studio at The Other Palace until March 9th

For tickets and information visit https://theotherpalace.co.uk/miss-i-doll/

Photos by Mariano Gobbi