| What: Prima Facie by Suzie Miller in Cape Town Where and where: Cape Town – The Baxter Studio August 4 to 29, 2026 Johannesburg – Barney Simon at the Market Theatre – September 17 until October 4, 2026 Bookings: Webtickets. Director: Neil Coppen Performer: Danica De La Rey Jones Lighting Design: Tina Le Roux Set Design: Patrick Curtis Sound Design: Charl-Johan Lingenfelder |
I was not able to be at the opening performance of Suzie Miler’s Prima Facie in Cape Town at the Baxter, so I attended the preview. I was bowled over by Danica De La Rey Jones’ portrayal of Tessa Denton, a young and sassy, fierce defence lawyer, who finds herself in the witness box, fighting for justice, after being raped by a colleague. Transfixed by de La Rey’s brilliant performance, under the deft direction of Neil Coppen, I went back for a 2nd viewing – to see it after a week into its run and also to have the opportunity to dig deeper into this complex text and the horrific landscape that it conjures up.
Second time round, yes the production has been tweaked and sharpened, with a few technical glitches ironed out. Having said that, I can’t say that the 2nd viewing was “better” than the first. They were different incarnations of the same play on stage. This is live performance. This is what makes live performance so exciting. It is a lived experience and each rendering is bound to be different. Danica De La Rey Jones is giving her guts in this performance in which she not only takes the role of the defence lawyer but also all the protagonists in her story – for and against her. A lot of it is heart breaking but there is loads of self-deprecating humour from Tessa – quips about her relationship with her mom – for instance failing to buy sugar-free Fanta for her.
Tessa knows from her time in law that the criminal justice arena is a game. But she is showing up – to have her day in court- and to hopefully prevent her alleged perpetrator from sexually assaulting again.
Suzie Miller’s play was set in the UK. Miller, an Australian by birth, first studied science and then moved into law and then segued into theatre. Prima Facie has been informed by her own extensive experience in the criminal law trenches. The notion of the law being a game has been heightened by the theatrical medium. It is a game. It is a theatre play. We are the voyeurs, watching.
For Tessa, where are the consent-to-sex lines when both parties have been drinking? Is there some ulterior motive behind the complaint? A trial by jury is referenced in the UK script, but we don’t have a jury system in SA. In this production, there is a judge and assessors, and the script references a section of the SA Criminal Procedure Act which becomes a key aspect of the play. Is there a prima facie case for the accused to answer?
Worldwide, the shocking statistic is that at least one in three women will be sexually assaulted. Only a tiny percentage will ever be prosecuted and see a courtroom. For a complainant, reliving the experience daily is exacerbated by investigative and prosecutorial ineptitude and the glacial pace at which criminal cases get dealt with. Those factors that were once in Tessa’s quiver, are no longer her friend.
For every victim, the resulting abrasion of memory, gaslighting herself with the moment-by-moment details of the rape, of self- confidence and life itself, is front and centre in this play. The system is broken.
Does it need fixing, or is a totally new system needed? The play drives home the point that “the law is an organic thing. Defined by us. Constructed by us, in light of our experiences.” There is a call-out, a plea for the law “which has been shaped by generations of men”, to change. It is a howl for the law to not “persist in interrogating the victim survivors” and that we need “to interrogate the law’s own assumptions”.
As the omniscient narrator, Danica De La Rey Jones witnesses Tessa- going through the ordeal – from young thoroughbred stud, strutting in her high heels and legal attire to “victim”, with messy hair, undone by everything. At the preview, De La Ray Jones’ was visibly wrecked, with tears running down her face; overcome physically and emotionally by the trial. The poise of the young stud lawyer in the game at the start, unravelled on stage. The preview show was 120 minutes and the pace was much faster. When I saw it for the 2nd time, it was 2 hours and 15 minutes (according to the ushers and my watch). The Tessa on my 2nd viewing was more measured, less unhinged. Despite everything, she is tough and resolute and owning her brokenness. The Tessa of the preview was utterly shattered, crying. Two different emotional manifestations of page to stage by the extraordinarily talented De La Rey Jones.
This is a horrible subject-matter, issue-driven play which is offset by Patrick Curtis’ sleek, stylish, beautiful set. This is the aspirational lifestyle of a well-heeled lawyer who has it all until she doesn’t. The gorgeous wooden slatted sliding doors/walls holds space for Tessa as she interrogates herself and the legal system. The wooden slats reveal a mirror as she is refaced and reflects on herself and us the audience. A table as central prop – moved around by De La Rey Jones – demarcates shifts in space and time, heightened by Tina Le Roux’s lighting. Scrapings of chairs, hoots of trains, screeching of a mike in the courtroom is heightened by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder’s sound design. Neil Coppen’s seamless direction, infuses physical movement and moments of puppetry – as Tessa cradles herself – via the proxy of clothes. It is an immersive production – pulling us into the narrative – as we go around in the circle game of crime, victimhood, punishment and accountability.
For any reader who may see the play and want a bit of context on the legal side – see this link – I went down the rabbit hole to get a sense of the legals in our country. I am not a lawyer, so it was just to get a sense of the terrain. As I understand, in South African law, if the court thinks that there is no evidence that an accused person committed an offense at the end of the state’s case, it may give a verdict of not guilty in terms of s174 of the Act.
and a recent case
https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAWCHC/2025/514.html
✳ Danica De La Rey Jones in Pima Facie, South Africa, 2026. Photo: Quaid Jones. Supplied.
