Review: Prima Facie
Seen at Birmingham Rep, Friday 13 March 2026
A brilliant script by Suzie Miller; a wonderful solo performance by Jodie Comer; deftly directed by Justin Miller; and with a great soundtrack by Self Esteem. Prima Facie really does have it all, amounting to one of the most moving and powerful evenings I’ve ever spent in a theatre.
Comer is Tessa, a working class Liverpool girl made good in London legal circles where, as a barrister specialising in defending men accused of sexual assault, she becomes an expert in spotting loopholes in prosecution arguments. But what happens when she becomes a victim, and the same legal ruses are used against her?
Such is the substance of Miller’s play, which sees Comer glide with astonishing ease (and remarkable physical poise) between the characters who populate Tessa’s world. She plays a posh boy legal eagle, her own mum, an actress in New York, a senior male barrister, along with various other roles, enacting an internal dialogue that highlights the mysogyny rooted deep within the legal system.
In other hands, this might sound more like a lecture than a drama - at the play’s core is a commentary about both class and gender - and given the nature of the subject, it can at times be harrowing. But you can’t look away, because Comer’s 100 minute tour de force is also utterly magnetic, bringing to life the sometimes messy reality of rape and the secondary trauma of a system which places its own priorities above those of justice.
There are no easy solutions to the problem Miller highlights, of course. Acknowledging that there is a problem, though, is a start.
It’s no accident that Prima Facie has been showered with awards and ranks as the National Theatre’s most watched stage to screen production - it’s call to action is timely, gripping and irresistibly watchable.