Prima Facie review | Comedy Theatre

Prima Facie returns to Melbourne seven years after its Australian debut, reuniting director Lee Lewis and Sheridan Harbridge in the role that first captivated audiences in 2019. Since then, the one-woman play has become an international phenomenon, resonating deeply through its confronting examination of consent, power and the failures of the legal system. 

Centred on ambitious criminal barrister Tessa, the play traces the collapse of someone who has built her life around faith in the law, only to find herself failed by the very system she once defended. Suzie Miller’s writing is sharp, raw and intelligent, balancing legal argument with human vulnerability. The result is theatre that is urgent rather than didactic, forcing the audience into uncomfortable proximity with the realities it explores.

Harbridge delivers a performance of astonishing control and emotional precision. Her physicality is extraordinary, not only in the way she inhabits Tessa’s restless confidence early on, but in how that confidence begins to fracture. The changes in posture, rhythm and voice become part of the storytelling itself. Harbridge captures the way Tessa thinks aloud, shaping and reshaping her speech in real time, while seamlessly slipping into supporting characters for fleeting single lines that are vividly distinct.

What makes her portrayal especially compelling is the gradualness of Tessa’s transformation. Harbridge begins as a fiercely articulate barrister who thrives within the structures of the legal system, only to slowly unravel into someone uncertain, withdrawn and vulnerable following her experience of sexual assault. Her performance is never reductive or sentimental. Tessa's recollection of the night itself is almost unbearable in its intimacy and rawness as Harbridge draws the audience into absolute silence, commanding attention with remarkable restraint.

Lewis understands exactly when to let that silence settle and when to tighten the pace, creating a mounting unease that steadily closes in around Tessa. The minimalist design by Renée Mulder reduces the stage to a small raised square platform with a single office chair with Harbridge moving within the confines of the platform for much of the piece. The effect is of a lone figure suspended in shadows and negative space, and Lewis uses that emptiness to sharpen focus and intensify every shift in the narrative.

Trent Suidgeest's lighting consistently reshapes the show, isolating Tessa at key moments while also opening out into broader, more atmospheric scenes. The shifts are understated, but expressive, moving fluidly between the cool composure of the courtroom and the stark exposure of Tessa’s recollections. Paul Charlier’s composition and sound operate in a similar manner. Rather than overwhelming the production, the soundscape works imperceptibly beneath the dialogue, building apprehension.

Prima Facie is a devastatingly powerful piece of theatre that resists easy catharsis or resolution. Its impact lies not in the personal scale of Tessa’s experience, but in the unflinching clarity with which it exposes the structures surrounding consent, evidence and credibility. It is gripping theatre precisely because it refuses to soften its reality. The discomfort is unavoidable, but so is the tension. Uncomfortable viewing, absolutely, but essential viewing.

SHOW DETAILS

Venue: Comedy Theatre, 240 Exhibition Street, Melbourne
Season: Until 31 May | Tues - Thurs 7pm, Fri 7:30pm, Sat 2pm and 7:30pm, Sun 1pm and 5pm
Duration: 90 mins
Tickets: $89 - $159
Bookings: Ticketek

Image credit: Brett Boardman