Prima Facie

Oscar Wilde once said that all art is born from some form of outrage. While this may be debatable about all art, nonetheless, Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie (i.e., ‘on the face of it’) was born from outrage; outrage when it comes to sexual abuse, or any form of abuse, and the current legal system that is biased towards alpha males, and against the victim, especially women. That Miller’s play has resonated with audiences in the UK, the USA, and is scheduled to be produced in other countries throughout the world, is evidence that this extraordinary Australian play speaks to more than just Australian audiences. This is not just an ‘Australian play’ but a great piece of ‘World Drama’. As Miller states in her program notes, there is a need for the legal systems in communities around the world ‘to be interrogated and modernised’. Absolutely. For if we cannot rely on the legal system for justice then the alternative is Frances Bacon’s ‘wild justice’ of revenge, and the corrupting influence of privilege and bias insidiously permeates all other domains of politics and society; for example, the disturbing tribalism associated with the question, ‘What school did you go too?’

The director of this terrific production, David Mealor, in his program notes, states that Prima Facie is a ‘learning play’, which it is, but it is also a brilliant ‘state of the nation’ play. As the several recent cases involving sexual abuse, exemplified by the Brittany Higgins case, the so-called justice system is woefully inadequate and faulty. As Miller’s heroine, Tessa, states, it is a system created by men for men – something is very rotten in the state of the Australian (and others) legal system.

Tessa (Caroline Craig) is from a low-income dysfunctional family in Sydney’s western suburbs. By sheer talent, skills, and determination, Tessa has survived law school and risen to the top of her profession as a highly successful barrister in criminal law. This has included ruthlessly and gleefully questioning victims of sexual abuse, challenging their statements and evidence in a deliberate predatory way until the victim (or perpetrator) is left an emotional wreck, finishing with the ever-so-polite and patronising statement, ‘I’m sorry my questions have caused you any emotional distress’. All this is revealed in a series of vignettes and flashbacks, superbly played by Caroline Craig who, alone on stage, brings to vivid life the various people with whom Tessa has engaged with throughout her personal and professional life, including her mother, and her colleague Damion, another successful criminal barrister. All is going brilliantly, including a budding romance with Damion, fuelled by excessive booze and drunk sex on Damion’s chamber’s floor. Then, after another night of heavy drinking, Tessa and Damion end up in Tessa’s apartment, which includes more drinking, consensual sex, vomiting, and non-consensual sex, in other words, rape. Suddenly Tessa’s world changes as she now is the victim of sexual abuse and goes down the path of others in the pursuit of justice in a system and world that reeks of privilege. While arguably this may be considered as hubris for Tessa’s own self-indulgent conceit and ego for being a ruthless barrister, and the line between consensual-non-consensual sex and rape is deliberately and challengingly blurry, nonetheless, Miller’s primary focus is how victims of sexual abuse, especially women, are treated in the current legal system. As her heroine, Tessa (and Tessa is a heroine in the classical tradition) defies the court in the climax of Prima Facie, while her memory of the periphery acts may be blurry, the actual incident, the sexual abuse, is crystal clear. It was and is non-consensual sexual abuse – ‘No’ means NO!

While the above may be a bit a spoiler, nonetheless, it does not give justice to the thrilling nuances and complexities inherent in Miller’s completely absorbing and vitally important play. In many ways, Prima Facie is a companion piece to another award-winning play by Miller, Reasonable Doubt, referencing the legal term ‘beyond reasonable doubt’, which is alluded to throughout Prima Facie.

David Mealor and his creative team have produced a work of truly great theatre. Unlike other productions of Prima Facie, Mealor has pared-down production values so that it is basically an actor and chair on an empty stage. Subsequently, this places the actor, Caroline Craig, in an extremely vulnerable and challenging position. Caroline Craig is simply marvellous, rising to this challenge in a performance that is commanding, detailed, varied, nuanced, mesmeric, and profoundly moving. This production of Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie is amongst the best theatre productions I have seen so far this year (which is still countable on just one hand), and the best the State Theatre Company, led by artistic director, Mitchell Butel, has produced so far this year. Thank you.  Highly, highly, highly recommended. 5-stars!

Tony Knight

Photographer: Matt Byrne.

Read Martin Portus' interview with Suzie Miller here

Click here to purchase a copy of Prima Facie at Book Nook.