Since I'm not going to be able to watch many plays on West End or Broadway in the near future, I'd have to settle for live screenings. I can't get NTLive at home, I could only access NTatHome. NTLive is shown in the cinemas. Too bad we don't have a Curzon. The Projector, please do your magic. Booked a seat at Esplanade Theater to watch 'National Theatre Live: Prima Facie' written by Suzie Miller and directed by Justin Martin, starring non other than the versatile Jodie Comer.
I watched it really for Jodie Comer. I was totally caught up in 'Killing Eve' (2018-2022; four seasons) because of Jodie Comer's Villanelle. She is a brilliant actress on screen, and on stage too. In 'Prima Facie', she makes her West End debut. She plays a barrister who specializes in defending rapists, and we watched her perspectives shift after she was raped by a date one drunken night. (Reviews here, here, here and here.)
The screening started with a clip of a roundtable discussion between the actor, the writer, a detective and a criminal barrister about the play and its wider social context. Journalist Emily Maitlis chaired this roundtable — Jodie Comer and and writer Suzie Miller met with DSI Clair Kelland and criminal barrister Kate Parker.
This is by no means an easy show to sit through. From rape being an idea and someone else's pain, it became a lived-through personal experience. And we're exposed to the UK legal system that is strangely patriarchal and ill-equipped to punish sexual assaults. Offline, it was a very good academic debate as the friends and I discussed about the parallels of UK legal system and ours pertaining to sexual assault and sexual offenses. Who have our laws failed to protect?
In Singapore, married men had marital rape immunity till we repealed this law in 2020. Even the tweaks to this law in 2007 didn't see it repealed. It simply sought to introduce some exceptions to the immunity. It is only in May 2019 that we totally repealed marital rape immunity, with the new law coming into effect on 1 January 2020. 2020! It took us so long. Recognizing that marital rape happens isn't the same as repealing the immunity of such a concept.
One-actor / shows are a tremendous challenge to any actor. What more a one-woman show. Jodie Comer is spectacular in this play. She delivered in spades. The script paled in comparison. The pacing felt okay in the 90-minute show. The text was a tad ponderous and the lines were hmmm... could have been better phrased, but the actor delivered it with panache. Her change in attitude and demeanour after the sexual assault and her thoughts during the three-day trial were marked. What brilliant acting.
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