A legal brief ... encounter: A review of 'Prima Facie'


At a glance

  • We can be thankful that our Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) has arranged with Ayala Cinemas so that there are monthly viewings in Makati, Quezon City, and Cebu.


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Jodie Comer

The National Theatre Live series is the best British theatre captured on film so that it can reach a wider audience globally. We can be thankful that our Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) has arranged with Ayala Cinemas so that there are monthly viewings in Makati, Quezon City, and Cebu. 

These are straight plays, dramas, or comedies that we usually would not get the chance to watch unless we traveled to London or New York City. The rights to stage current theater works can be prohibitive, and we’ll bring in musicals before we even consider these straight plays. The common wisdom is that there’s a limited, niche audience for these dramas and comedies.

Prima Facie is a one-woman drama that’s an acting tour-de-force for Jodie Comer. Written by Australian Susie Miller and directed by Justin Martin, the play first ran at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London in 2022, where it was hailed by critics and earned five nominations at the Olivier Awards - Best New Play, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Lighting Design, and Best Sound Design. It romped off with wins in the first two categories. On Broadway the following year, Jodie Comer also picked up Best Actress in a Drama. 

The set is the chambers of a law office, and when the play opens, we’re immediately thrust into Tess Ensler’s (Jodie Comer), relaying what it feels like to be a female barrister for the defense in a courtroom. The adrenaline rush, the tactics going on, the playing up to the notion that she’s ’only a woman,’ and the satisfaction gained from winning the case. Tess speaks with a rough, Northern accent. When she expands to talk about her Cambridge education in Law, she’s quick to point out how she was expected to fail, that she had the double whammy of being a woman plus not having the right background for those who enter law as some elite club. 

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What follows, no spoilers here, is one hour and forty minutes of supreme story-telling. Comer teases, regales, extrapolates, and entertains, making us laugh, tear, be outraged, and other emotions. In the process, we are treated to a disquieting exposition of the legalities of sexual assault and how the law defines "consent," how it’s men setting these definitions and parameters.

There is a rich irony as we appreciate that Ensler is an excellent and effective defense barrister, helping those men who are charged with sexual assault get off and have the charges dismissed. So when the tables are turned, and she has to go through what those categorized as ‘victims’ go through, she questions the laws she was using to get her clients’ cases dismissed. 

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The lighting, the set design, and the electronic music all play a role in heightening the mood and impact of this riveting dramatic vehicle. It’s a masterful, exhausting performance by Jodie, and it left me in total admiration of how she would be doing this night after night for three straight months back in 2022 in London, then again in New York. 

We can be grateful that the CCP has pushed for this series year after year; on Feb. 25, there’s Oscar Wilde’s An Importance of Being Earnest production that just finished its run in London, and Noel Coward’s Present Laughter with Andrew Scott in the lead role, on March 25 - both at the Glorietta cinemas. Those are two terrific vintage comedies to look forward to.