Prima Facie (play)

Prima Facie is a dramatic one-woman play written by Australian-British playwright Suzie Miller.

The plot follows Tessa, a criminal defense barrister whose view of the legal system changes after she is sexually assaulted. The show was nominated for five Laurence Olivier Awards, with wins for Best New Play and Best Actress for Jodie Comer, who subsequently won a Tony Award for the same role on Broadway.

Miller reworked the play into a novel in 2023.

Plot and themes

The play is about a lawyer who specialises in defending men accused of sexual assault, and is then assaulted herself. Themes include how witnesses in sexual assault cases are required to provide crystal-clear evidence for a conviction to be secured.

Productions

Australia (2019)

Prima Facie premiered in 2019, at the Stables Theatre, Sydney, Australia. The production, directed by Lee Lewis and starring Sheridan Harbridge, ran from 17 May to 22 June. It won the 2020 AWGIE Award for Drama and the 2020 Major AWGIE Award from the Australian Writers' Guild. This production was reprised in 2021, presented by Griffin Theatre Company and the Seymour Centre and again in 2023, at the Melbourne Theatre Company.

West End (2022)

The play made its West End premiere in 2022, at the Harold Pinter Theatre, with Jodie Comer starring as Tessa. It opened on 15 April and closed on 18 June. English singer-songwriter Self Esteem composed the soundtrack for the West End production, which she digitally released on 14 June 2022. In a review of the production, The Guardian said of the play's messages, "there is power in hearing them spoken on a West End stage, and Comer manages to infuse breath-taking emotional drama in every last word."

The West End production partnered with the Schools Consent Project, a charity that visits schools to teach about sexual consent. As part of this partnership, Prima Facie gave free tickets to school groups and raised money for the charity.

Starting 21 July 2022, a filmed performance of the play at the Harold Pinter Theatre was shown at cinemas around the world by NT Live.

The show won all three of the categories it was nominated in at the 2023 WhatsOnStage Awards: Best Play, Best Performer in a Play (for Comer) and Best Graphic Design. It received nominations in five categories of the 2023 Laurence Olivier Awards: Best New Play, Best Actress (for Comer), Best Director (for Justin Martin), Best Lighting Design (for Natasha Chivers), and Best Sound Design (for Ben and Max Ringham). Out of five nominations, the play received two awards: Best New Play and Best Actress.

Broadway (2023)

The West End production made its North American premiere on Broadway in spring 2023. The show began previews on April 11, 2023 at the Golden Theatre, and officially opened on April 23, 2023, scheduled to run for a strictly limited engagement. The show received mostly positive reviews from the critics. The show was originally scheduled to run until 10 June 2023, but it was extended. The show played its final performance on July 2, 2023.

Jodie Comer won the 2023 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance.

Other notable productions

A Turkish adaptation directed by Hakan Atalay and with Olcay Yusufoğlu starring as Tessa made its premiere at Fashion Scene (Moda Sahnesi) on 4 January 2022. By November 2023, it is still running with its third season.

A Spanish adaptation directed by Peruvian Juan Carlos Fisher and with Vicky Luengo starring as Tessa made its premiere at Teatros del Canal on 31 August 2023. It was originally scheduled to run until 17 September 2023. An Icelandic adaption directed by Þóra Karítas Árnadóttir and with Ebba Katrín Finnsdóttir starring as Tessa made its premiere at The National Theatre of Iceland on 17 November 2023. New Zealand adaptation starring Acushla-Tara Kupe as Tessa it premiered in Auckland The Dutch adaptation by Internationaal Theater Amsterdam starring Maria Kraakman as Tessa premiered in Haarlem on November 30, 2023.

A German adaptation starring Mercy Dorcas Otieno premiered in September 2023 at the Deutsches Theater, Berlin. That production was then revived there in January/February 2024 in France which Elodie Navarre played Tessa in 2024 stage in Austria adaptation starring Anna Rieser

In Serbia the show premiered at Bitef teater on January 26th 2024 - and the February/March shows were sold out. It was directed by Anja Suša and performed by Maša Dakić.

In Brazil, Débora Falabella plays the role of Tessa Ensler in 2024 for a short season of two months at the Adolpho Bloch Theatre, Rio de Janeiro.

Notable casting

Soundtrack

Self Esteem's involvement was first announced 7 February 2022. The soundtrack album was released digitally on 14 June, with a red vinyl released on 2 December. Self Esteem described her connection with the material by saying the play "deals with similar issues" as her previous album Prioritise Pleasure, and that the play is, "at heart ... an examination of what it can be like to be a woman today: the insecurities she's faced, heartbreak, sexism, misogyny, being told to look and behave a certain way." She also noted hope that her involvement would invite people to the show who otherwise feel alienated from theatre.

The Evening Standard's Nick Curtis called the soundtrack "evocative" and "heartbeat-led", while The Guardian's Arifa Akbar wrote that it "conjure[s] the ambient electronic sounds of an Ibiza beach bar."

Track listing

Personnel

• Rebecca Lucy Taylor – songwriter, vocals (1–6, 8–18), producer, programmer
• Taylor Skye – producer, piano (2, 11, 17, 18), synthesiser (5, 18), songwriter (5), vocals (7)
• Cicely Balston – mastering
• Eduardo de la Paz – mixing
• Matthew Skillington – vocals (7)
• Sophie Galpin – guitar (7)

Planned film adaptation

On May 15, 2023, it was announced that the play will be adapted as a film with actress Cynthia Erivo set to play the role of Tessa. Suzie Miller will expand the script from the original stage productions. The film adaptation will be directed by Susanna White. Further information and a release date are still to be announced.

Awards and nominations

2022 West End production

2023 Broadway production

References