Jodie Comer comes to Broadway fresh off her London triumph and Olivier award win in Prima Facie. Suzie Miller’s intensely wrought writing also won for Best Play. A brochure inserted into the Playbill highlights the sexual assault epidemic in the U.S and the Schools Consent Project charity. A highly dramatic and rough evening was anticipated.
Tessa is a successful trial lawyer making her name defending men accused of sexual assault. The courtroom scenes of cross examination are riveting and brilliantly theatrical. We learn that Tessa came from a modest background but attended law school with privileged “thoroughbreds”. Her success was earned the hard way.
The ins and outs of lawyering are fully exposed. Tessa does not care if her clients are guilty or not. She has a job to do and revels in the game of finding cracks to bolster her defense. If a few guilty people get off that’s a problem of insufficient work by the prosecutors or the police.
As might be presumed from this wildly entertaining setup, the tables will be turned (literally) on Tessa. She enters a relationship with a coworker resulting in a non-consensual encounter from her perspective. The drama in this play arises from the situation presented. Will the jury see her point of view or his given their previous history and that particular evening’s circumstances?
Ms. Comer runs a one woman marathon in the pouring rain during this performance. The complexities of the plot are always finely tuned if occasionally falling into repetitive longevity. A one hundred minute monologue on a subject which begs for participatory discussion might benefit from an intermission. Ms. Comer gets a brief moment offstage after the water falls.
Miriam Buether’s exceptional Set Design evokes a massive chamber filled with volumes of legal precedent. A harsh light is shined on our laws and the way cases (and people) are treated. Having Tessa on both sides of the equation gives the play its backbone and also allows a glimpse into the process of questioning firmly held ideology.
The brochure in the Playbill features this dichotomy. Ms. Comer has two faces. One is red in her barrister wig. The other is blue and screaming. Inside the fold the theme of this play is laid bare. “On the face of it something has to change”.
Prima Facie is a serious and confrontational work overflowing with emotional depth. This topical play illuminates a big Broadway spotlight on the concept of consent and clearly has a voice in the broader #MeToo movement. Theatergoers who appreciate being mentally challenged will be wowed.
Prima Facie is scheduled to run through June 18, 2023.