Christine Lahti at The Smile of Her Q&A at Marylebone Theatre

She has spent decades navigating Hollywood’s glass ceilings and casting couches. Now Golden Globe, Emmy and Academy Award winner Christine Lahti is making her London stage debut in her acclaimed autobiographical play The Smile of Her.

Funny, tender and deeply moving, The Smile of Her draws on Lahti’s 2018 book True Stories from an Unreliable Eyewitness: A Feminist Coming of Age, a collection of personal essays and memories. The result is a celebration of mothers and daughters, family, forgiveness and the ongoing fight for equality.

It begins in 1950s suburban America and traces a maze of misogyny through family life and show business, confronting what it costs a woman to keep smiling through pain, anger and ambition.

Directed by Mêlisa Annis, Lahti switches between playing her parents and siblings, with her younger self and inner child mirrored by one of two young actresses sharing the role (Jesamine-Bleu Gibbs and Isabella Ford). The production is produced by Nina Tassler, Jenny Warburg and Wild Yak, in association with Gloria Steinem (who Lahti once played onstage).

In this exclusive post-show discussion, Christine and I, with lots of input from the audience, had a wide-ranging conversation about the feminist journey at the heart of the play, the urgency of telling this story now as rights are rolled back, and what it means – at any age – to finally understand the people who raised us.

Among the other topics discussed: #MeToo and the manosphere, internalised misogyny, the patriarchy’s cost to men as well as women, the “quadruple threat” every female artist should aim to be, strong female role models (including Steinem), the potential healing that comes from telling your truth out loud, and the timing of her work with two Donald Trump administrations.

The Smile of Her continues at London’s Marylebone Theatre until 29 August 2026.

Q&A video

Q&A photos

With thanks to Rachael Bellis.

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