Prima Facie

Prima Facie is a play by Suzie Miller that has made waves in 2023. Originally produced in Australia in 2019, the played was transferred to London’s West End in 2022; this production won the Olivier Award for Best Play and Best Actress, and the Broadway production won the Tony for Best Leading Actress. It’s on at Circa for a month-long, sold out run. We went along to see it.

The play deals with the thorny issue of court evidence in sexual assault cases. It is a one-hander, with Tess, the protagonist, being a barrister. She is successful, and has defended many clients against accusations of sexual assault. She is convinced that cross examination of witnesses in the courtroom is the highest form of evidence and that her skill at cross examination is the best way to reveal the truth.

Yeah, you can guess what’s coming, can’t you? She is sexually assaulted by a colleague, in dubious circumstances involving a lot of drink. It turns out that she and the colleague were being considered for the same, higher, position in the chambers system. The play explores not just the legal system, but the protagonist’s feelings and how the issue is dealt with by employers, the police, and the court system itself. At the end, she is less convinced about the purity of her calling, and the efficacy of the cross-examination system as a method of getting to the truth, as she faces the kind of court experience that she usually hands out to others.