Review: PRIMA FACIE at Queensland Theatre

It's taken me a few days since seeing Griffin Theatre Company and Queensland Theatre's production of Prima Facie to write this review, as I've been struggling with finding the right words to summarise what a profound and confronting impact playwright Suzie Miller has threaded through her words, director Lee Lewis has shaped into life on stage and actor Sheridan Harbridge breathed into existence.

Putting sexual assault and the parameters of the law centrestage, Prima Facie is the kind of theatre that confronts us with an issue rather than sugarcoating is and that issue is the way in which the legal system represses women. It tells the story of defence barrister Tessa who has spent her professional career being indoctrinated to have complete faith in the legal system and it's 'innocent until proven guilty' stance on perpetrators of sexual assault. However, when Tessa finds herself on the other side of the bar and under cross-examination, she sees the failures of the legal system, turning her entire belief system and her profession upside down. By Miller framing the narrative of sexual assault through the lens of a lawyer, it added such complexity and nuance, making Tessa's story completely tragic but also ironic in many ways.

Director Lee Lewis showed us the power of storytelling and that you don't need a flashy, expensive set with leather sofas nor do you need a flying carpet in the air to tell a story. All of the best plays I've seen have consisted of minimal sets, if there was any set at all much like this work which featured one chair which Harbridge interacted with in a multitude of ways

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For one hundred minutes, Harbridge took us on a journey of zealousness, loss, grief, pain and hope. She had this way of making us feel like we were having a chat at a cafe, to being her reflection that she was talking to in the mirror to being the person that was putting her on trial. Harbridge was charming, charismatic and the level of vulnerability she brought to her character was unparalelled to what I've ever seen performed on a Queensland Theatre stage. We were her, we felt what she felt and we saw what she saw. Harbridge brought me to tears in her final cross-examination when all of her hope was lost but she kept on fighting. That's what we woman are. Fighters. We always have and always will be and it was so nuturing to the soul to see that onstage, especially as a victim of sexual assault myself.

Prima Facie is the perfect culmination of theatre and social change and just like Tessa says at the end of the show, men made these rules, made the law, and we, the audience, can change them.

Rating: 5 Stars

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