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Jodie Comer, alone onstage as a hotshot barrister inPrima Facie, almost never stops talking.
(This spring, she won an Olivier award.)
Like her character,Tessa, Comer is from Liverpool, and she uses her own Scouse accent.
Separately, she has also quickly mastered the physical modulation of stage work.
Millers play provides Comer with straightforward but potent material.
Trained as a lawyer herself, she structures the play like an argument.
At the top, theres the case for the law as it is.
But Tessa pursues her case anyway, driven to exact whatever justice she can.
The system feels faulty and mixed up, goes one such line, The legal system feels broken.
(How to Defend Yourself, recently, has proven theres much more to explore there.)
Justin Martins direction hammers on the material, too, double-underlining what Comers performance already makes clear.
That givesPrima Facieits overwhelming emotional heft.
Arguments may be convincing in the abstract.
Prima Facieis at the John Golden Theatre.
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