Tessa is a thoroughbred. A young, brilliant barrister who loves to win. She has worked her way up from working-class origins to be at the top of her game; defending; cross-examining and lighting up the shadows of doubt in any case. An unexpected event forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge. Suzie Miller’s award-winning Prima Facie takes us to the heart of where emotion and experience collide with the rules of the game. Justin Martin directs this solo actor tour de force from Jodie Comer.
I leave it to the jury of theatergoers to determine whether the larger legal argument that Miller makes in Prima Facie follows necessarily from Tessa’s specific experience. But about Comer’s performance there can be no doubt: This is a powerful and moving star turn. It has a very different energy from the Broadway season’s other great dramatic performance by a woman. Whereas Jessica Chastain spends A Doll’s House nearly immobile, Comer is a whirlwind: moving furniture, changing costumes, standing on tables, switching into the voices and accents of more than a dozen minor characters as Tessa narrates her story. Her virtuosity is not just a game—it’s emotional. Miller builds a respectable case, but Comer argues it brilliantly.
Tessa presses charges anyway in “Prima Facie,” a solo play opening tonight on Broadway. The best explanation for her decision is that the playwright, Suzie Miller, who was once a human rights lawyer in Australia, wants to show us that no woman – even an experienced trial lawyer – can get justice when it comes to sexual assault. (It’s no coincidence that Miller gives her heroine the same last name as Eve Ensler, the feminist playwright of “The Vagina Monologues.”) But if “Prima Facie” (a legal term meaning “on the face of it”) is a polemical play, what unfolds on the stage of the Golden Theater is an effectively directed, sleekly designed production that is, above all, a golden vehicle for the actress Jodie Comer.
Digital Lottery:
Price: $10
Where: primafacieplay.com/ticket-lottery
When: Beginning April 5, 2023, tickets priced at $10 for the following week's performances will be released every Wednesday.
Limit: Two per customer
Information: Tickets are subject to availability.
2023 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Justin Martin |
2023 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Lead Performer in a Play | Jodie Comer |
2023 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Lighting Design | Natasha Chivers |
2023 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Play | Suzie Miller |
2023 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Scenic Design | Miriam Buether |
2023 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Sound Design of a Play | Ben Ringham |
2023 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design of a Play | Natasha Chivers |
2023 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | Suzie Miller |
2023 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Solo Performance | Jodie Comer |
2023 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Jodie Comer |
2023 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Play | Prima Facie |
2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Solo Performance | Jodie Comer |
2023 | Theatre World Awards | Theatre World Awards | Jodie Comer |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Jodie Comer |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Natasha Chivers |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Play | Miriam Buether |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Play | Ben & Max Ringham |
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