ETC
and the Canberra Theatre Centre present Prima Facie by Suzie Miller. Directed
by Lee Lewis. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre. June 27-29.
Prima
Facie is a one woman play, with, at its centre, the question of voice.
Who
gets heard?
Sheridan
Harbridge is Tess, a young lawyer relishing the world of courts and
trials. She’s clever and competent
and knows exactly how things work in a courtroom from a barrister’s point of
view. She’s good at the job to which her high school and university results have
led her.
Until
all comes unstuck when she is raped by a colleague. She reports it and there is
a trial. Why things turn out the way they do in this system is something she finds
herself understanding all too well.
Suzie
Miller’s play is a fascinating examination of law and trauma and not being
heard in those contexts. It runs nearly two hours, with a kind of pause for
breath (not an interval) between the assault and the outcomes.
Harbridge
sustains it all superbly on a set that consists of little more than a chair and
a platform, an image that works both for the barrister and the witness. It’s
word against word in both instances.
Powerful
stuff, sure to cause necessary debate and not a play to miss.
Alanna Maclean
 |
| Photo Brett Boardman |
