Jodie Comer is to reprise her Olivier and Tony award-winning performance as working class barrister Tessa in Prima Facie for “one last time,” on a final tour culminating in five nights in her native Liverpool.
The monologue, written by Suzie Miller, stars Comer as a lawyer who defends men of rape and is herself assaulted. The Killing Eve star made her West End debut in 2022 in the show, which sold out and then broke box-office records when it played in cinemas for National Theatre Live. Comer took it to Broadway in 2023 and also recorded an audiobook adaptation by Miller.
“It is a huge privilege to return to Prima Facie for one last time,” said Comer. “I can’t think of a better finale to what has been such an incredible and deeply rewarding chapter in my life.”
The tour begins at Richmond theatre on 23 January 2026, then takes in the Gaiety in Dublin, the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh, Cardiff’s New Theatre, York’s Grand Opera House, Theatre Royal Bath, Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre, Birmingham Rep and, finally, the big closing number at Liverpool Playhouse, where it runs from 17 to 21 March.
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“The resonance of Suzie Miller’s writing, both in London and New York, exceeded anything we could have imagined,” said Comer. The play probes the way the legal system deals with sexual assault, particularly the challenge of proving rape beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. Miller, who spent 15 years as a lawyer herself, has said that in such cases “the forum of the court is not fit for purpose”.
Researching the play, the Prima Facie team sat in on real trials. Accepting the Olivier award for best new play in 2023, Miller thanked barristers and judges at the Old Bailey who had assisted with her research. Comer, who had a solid preparation for the world of one-woman shows with a role in the BBC’s revival of Alan Bennet’s Talking Heads in 2020, also won the best actress prize at the Oliviers in the same year, as well as a subsequent Tony Award for her spell on Broadway.
Miller said: “Jodie’s commitment to the story reaching so many new venues and communities means more people can be part of the conversation, and the solution.” Prima Facie has ongoing partnerships with the charities the Schools Consent Project and Everyone’s Invited, which the play’s producer James Bierman said were vital for “creating safe spaces for people to share their stories and be heard”.
Prima Facie is directed by Justin Martin and composed by Rebecca Lucy Taylor, AKA Self Esteem. Taylor has caught the theatre bug too and next month, as Self Esteem, will perform A Complicated Woman Live – a “theatrical presentation” of her new album – at the Duke of York’s theatre in London.
Tickets for the Prima Facie tour go on sale on 25 March.
Pic: Jodie Comer in Killing Eve, BBC
