Jodie Comer gives a sensational performance in Prima Facie, a new one-woman show in London’s West End.
Comer left us in awe in an entirely charismatic and emotional performance that had the audience gripped for the entirety of the 100-minute show.
She plays Tessa Ensler, a hugely successful criminal defence barrister from Liverpool.
Comer plays the part funnily, physically and emotionally.
Leaping around the stage on and off furniture, wandering through rain, with slight giggles amongst the dark tones of the play.
Being able to keep her home accent in this part, immediately setting her apart from her private schooled legal colleagues, added to the charisma of her character.
Prima Facie questions the UK’s legal system, made by men for men, which Ensler finds out as she tries to find justice for her own sexual assault.
Towards the end of the play, Ensler movingly asks the audience to look around, “1 in 3 of you will be sexually assaulted,” she said.
The script, beautifully written, gives the clearest picture of the utter disgrace at the amount of sexual assaults that cannot push through the courts systems.
Writer, Suzie Miller, a criminal defence lawyer turned playwright, wrote this play about her perspective on the law.
The law and court systems are outdated for sexual assault cases, there is often little solid evidence that courts require but that shouldn’t mean justice cannot be done.
Prima Facie shows Miller’s views of the errors in the legal system powerfully, making it arguably impossible not to be completely moved as a member of the audience.
Prima Facie is on at the Harold Pinter theatre in the West End, London until June 18 2022.
It is currently completely sold out however, every Wednesday at 10am they release 30 ‘pay what you can’ tickets.
