The play follows Tessa, a brilliant and ambitious defense barrister from a working-class background. She has fought her way to the top of her elite profession, specializing in defending men accused of sexual assault. She is skilled at cross-examination and creating "shadows of doubt" to win cases for her clients.
The most powerful stories are those that deliberately subvert their own prima facie script. Classic mysteries, from Sherlock Holmes to contemporary thrillers, thrive on leading the reader to a plausible initial conclusion, only to reveal that the first script was built on a hidden assumption. Similarly, great biographies and historical works dismantle the prima facie legends of heroes or villains, showing that first impressions obscure more than they reveal.
Prima Facie is a powerful, award-winning one-woman play by Suzie Miller that explores the intersection of law, gender, and sexual assault. Below are three post options tailored for different audiences, ranging from theatre fans to legal professionals. prima facie script
Adults, legal professionals, survivors (with care), and anyone who believes “justice” and “the law” are the same thing. Prima Facie will prove you wrong.
Miller’s script is structurally brilliant. The first 45 minutes are almost uncomfortable in their gleeful cynicism. Tessa mocks “weeping witnesses,” coaches juries on how to spot “inconsistent” victims, and celebrates every acquittal. When the assault happens (offstage, but described in visceral detail), every clever line she ever spoke becomes a knife turned inward. The script doesn’t just show hypocrisy—it weaponizes it. The play follows Tessa, a brilliant and ambitious
Drawing from Miller's play, we can extrapolate the key elements that make a script undeniable "on its face."
For a case to proceed to trial in a sexual assault case, the evidence must meet this “first sight” threshold. However, the play argues that the very nature of trauma, memory, and the private circumstances of a sexual assault often do not align with the discrete, factual, and external evidence the court demands. Her inside knowledge of the legal system becomes a curse, as she sees the procedural failures and biases that she previously used to her advantage. The most powerful stories are those that deliberately
"Under the McDonnell Douglas framework, a prima facie case of discrimination requires: (a) the plaintiff is a member of a protected class; (b) the plaintiff applied and was qualified for the job; (c) despite qualifications, the plaintiff was rejected; and (d) after the rejection, the position remained open or was filled by someone not in the protected class."
The brilliance of the script lies in its sharp bifurcation. Miller structures the narrative into two distinct acts that mirror the bifurcation of the protagonist's life.
Tessa is working-class (Liverpudlian background) who made it to the bar. Miller nods to this—Tessa mocks posh lawyers—but the script never deeply interrogates how class or race compound sexual assault cases. The play implies that a white, educated, articulate woman still cannot win. What of those without her privilege? That question is raised but not explored.
The play was originally performed by in a critically acclaimed run in London and on Broadway. Suzie Miller has since written a thematic sequel titled Inter Alia , starring Rosamund Pike , which explores these legal themes from the perspective of a female judge.