Prima Facie (NHB Modern Plays)

By Suzie Miller

Tessa is a young, brilliant barrister. She has worked her way up from working-class origins to the top of her game: defending, cross-examining and winning.
But an unexpected event forces her to confront the patriarchal power of the law, where the burden of proof and morality diverge.
Prima Facie by Suzie Miller is an award-winning play for a solo actor, taking us deep into a world where emotion and integrity are in conflict with the rules of the game.
After several acclaimed productions in Australia and winning the Australian Writers' Guild Award for Drama, the play received its European premiere at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London's West End in April 2022. It was produced by Empire Street Productions, directed by Justin Martin, and starred Jodie Comer, the Emmy and Bafta Award-winning star of TV's Killing Eve, making her West End debut.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Release date: Apr 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781788505246

Suzie Miller

Suzie Miller is a contemporary international playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. Based in both London and Sydney, Australia, Miller has had her work produced around the world, winning multiple prestigious awards, including for her smash-hit one-woman play Prima Facie, which ran a sold-out, critically successful season on London’s West End, winning the Laurence Olivier Awards for Best New Play 2023 and Best Actress 2023; followed by a critically successful season on Broadway, receiving four Tony Award nominations and a win for Best Actress 2023. Miller is educated in science and law, with a doctorate in drama and mathematics. She practiced human rights law before turning to writing full-time and is currently developing major theater, film, and television projects across the UK, USA, and Australia, including feature film adaptations of her plays. Prima Facie is her first novel.

Book preview

PART ONE

Scene One

Thoroughbreds

NOW

Court.

Thoroughbreds.

Every single one.

Primed for the race.

Every muscle pumped

trained and ready for the sprint.

Hold it together.

Hold back.

Keep the blood

at just the right temperature.

Just below boil.

Waiting at the starting gates,

then…

‘all stand’,

out of the stalls.

Hold back.

Push forward.

Know when to have restraint,

when to find an opening.

Ready to jump when the other side falters.

Poised.

Watching, waiting.

Nerves taut,

mind operating on ten tracks at once.

Blood pumping.

Muscles

tightly wound,

waiting to spring.

Waiting.

It’s starting to open up,

wait.

Wait.

Careful.

This is the measure of your skill set,

the calm before.

And,

there it is.

Instinct pushes me forward.

‘YOUR HONOUR!’

[Hold everything in one place.]

I’m on my feet.

Eyes

zooming in on me.

‘Submission granted.’

Yesss.

My client,

big guy,

looks stunned.

Doesn’t quite know I’ve won a point,

but he feels the shift.

Likes it.

My client hates the witness,

but for me,

the witness is just

‘the witness’.

I sit down.

The prosecution finishes.

Then it’s time.

The judge looks at me:

‘It’s your witness Ms Ensler.’

Yes.

The witness is mine!

The witness breathes in.

I stand up,

slowly, do up the button on my jacket.

Courtroom silent,

charged,

waiting for moi.

Keep it cool,

cooool.

Voice,

measured.

And

confident.

Play it.

Play it,

it’s yours.

[You’re holding it in the palm of your hand.]

Play with it.

Stretch it out,

it’s yours.

Cross-examination.

It’s the best part.

All instinct.

Ask the question.

Repeat the answer;

repeat it again.

Watch his face,

let him think I’m getting mixed up;

that I’m a bit slow in understanding what happened.

Flick through some pages;

let him think I’ve lost my way.

Hear breathing.

A snicker from prosecution counsel.

Good.

Good.

Very good.

Again,

flick through papers.

My client shifts uncomfortably in the dock.

Good.

Then I repeat the question,

watch the witness