Prima Facie: Special Edition

This special edition of the international hit play Prima Facie features the definitive version of the award-winning script, together with colour photos and exclusive additional content, giving you a fascinating behind-the-scenes insight into the making of the production and the issues it explores.

In the play, Tessa is a young, brilliant barrister who has worked her way up from working-class origins to the top of her game: defending, cross-examining and winning. But when an unexpected event forces her to confront the patriarchal power of the law – where the burden of proof and morality diverge – she finds herself in a world where emotion and integrity are in conflict with the rules of the game.

After acclaimed productions in Australia and winning the Australian Writers' Guild Award for Drama, Prima Facie received its European premiere in a sold-out run at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London's West End in 2022 starring Jodie Comer in her West End debut. It was named Best New Play at both the 2023 Olivier and WhatsOnStage Awards. A filmed version, released in 2022, went on to become the highest-grossing event cinema release ever in the UK.

This edition, published alongside Prima Facie's Broadway transfer in 2023, includes contributions from writer Suzie Miller, actor Jodie Comer, director Justin Martin, producer James Bierman and other key members of the creative team, letting you go deeper into the world of the play. There are also essays on the legal context and how the play has become a vehicle for change in attitudes towards the treatment of female victims of sexual assault.



Suzie Miller is an Australian-British playwright, librettist and screenwriter, as well as a lawyer and co-founder of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights.



'A play that roars... urgent and powerful'



'A searing, intense indictment of the ways the legal system perpetuates the patriarchal order that has created it in the first place… The relevance of this unsettling drama for our present moment of #MeToo is obvious… joins the ranks of such works as Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You and Nina Raine's Consent… What we come to know is certainly disturbing, but, as in all great theatre, it strikes one as a true privilege to have made the journey'



'An unforgettable moment of theatre'



'An outstanding piece of theatre that has a phenomenal impact'



'A damning portrait of justice denied women… teems with rich nuance, testing sympathies… like a punch to the guts'



'Suzie Miller's script is shrewd and economical in its analysis of how the system treats assault survivors... timely and timeless'



'A striking drama... Suzie Miller's text is pacy and punchy'



'An impassioned play about an important subject... blazing'



'A polemical monologue which makes its point in style… the cumulative effect is quite something'



'Hugely succesful and hard-hitting... What makes this play especially astonishing is how lived-in its writing feels. Miller's background as a lawyer shines in every line of dialogue... an urgent and compelling work'



'A relevant and deeply disturbing indictment of how our legal system routinely fails sexual assault victims... A seriously important work'