Prima Facie by Suzie Miller review – vital story stripped of its stage power

Miller’s adaptation of her celebrated play about sexual assault and the legal system lacks the economy and tautness that made for such compelling theatre

Suzie Miller’s 2022 play Prima Facie was one of those rare theatre events that garner headlines beyond the arts pages. A 90-minute, one-woman tour de force performed by Jodie Comer in her first major stage role, it was a hit in the West End and on Broadway, won multiple awards, and has prompted efforts within the legal profession to address the issues raised by the story. Now Miller, a former lawyer, has expanded the drama into novel form, with mixed results.

Prima Facie is a story of two halves, narrated in a breathless, first-person present tense by Tessa Ensler, an ambitious barrister in her early 30s who has risen from a Luton council estate via Cambridge to a prestigious London chambers.