London’s Prima Facie Streams Online Ahead of Broadway Premiere

London’s Prima Facie Streams Online Ahead of Broadway Premiere

National Theatre at Home premieres the live capture of Jodie Comer in Suzie Miller’s award-winning play Prima Facie this April.

Set to open on Broadway on April 23 for a strictly limited engagement of 10 weeks only, Prima Facie was captured live from the intimate Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End by National Theatre Live. The filmed play, which premiered in cinemas last year, will now make its streaming debut in select markets.

Tessa is a young, brilliant barrister. She has worked her way up from working-class origins to be at the top of her game; defending; cross-examining and winning. An unexpected event forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof, and morals diverge. Prima Facie takes us to the heart of where emotion and experience collide with the rules of the game. 

 


 

Directed by Justin Martin (The Jungle), Prima Facie played London's West End in April 2022 to sold-out houses which eventually led the National Theatre to film the production prior to the play's last performance in June. 

Prima Facie streams now online through National Theater at Home in most markets. The play will not be available in the US at the moment due to the upcoming Broadway engagement. Prima Facie will be available at least until April 20, 2023.

The play features an original score by Rebecca Lucy Taylor, who is better known as Self Esteem, and who completed her debut US Tour earlier this year for her new album, Prioritise Pleasure. 

Prima Facie features set and costume design by two-time Tony Award nominee Miriam Buether, lighting design by Drama Desk nominee Natasha Chivers, sound design by Drama Desk Award winners Ben & Max Ringham, and video by William Williams for Treatment Studio.

In her review for The Guardian, Arifa Akbar said: "Comer’s performance compensates for the clompy-footed parts of Miller’s script, which falls into a loudly lecturing tone at the end. But Prima Facie’s final messages are urgent in highlighting who our laws fail to protect. If they are delivered in hammer blows, there is power in hearing them spoken on a West End stage, and Comer manages to infuse breath-taking emotional drama in every last word."