| What: Prima Facie by Suzie Miller 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 |
Exciting news is that Suzie Miller’s play Prima Facie, starring Danica De La Ray Jones will be on in South Africa, directed by multi award winning Neil Coppen for How Now Cow Productions. It will be staged in Cape Town at The Baxter Studio from August 4 to 29, 2026, before transferring to Joburg, to the Barney Simon at the Market Theatre from September 17 until October 4, 2026. It is the South African premiere of this play by the acclaimed Australian born playwright, Miller. Prima Facie was first staged in 2019 – just before the Covid pandemic – and here thanks to How Now Brown in securing the rights – we will see this Oliver and Tony award winning play in South Africa, which grapples with uncomfortable questions and realities: “Prima Facie is a hard-hitting look at the “patriarchal power of the law” where the burden of proof and existing rules of evidence often work against victims of sexual violence.” Read on for more:
How Now Brown Cow presents SA premiere of Olivier Award winning, gripping legal drama Prima Facie
How Now Brown Cow, creators of acclaimed productions such as My Name is Lucy Barton, Expelled and Constellations, presents the South African premiere of Tony and Olivier Award-winning gripping legal drama Prima Facie.
Written by Suzie Miller, this production is directed by esteemed director Neil Coppen (Isidlamlilo/The Fire Eater; Animal Farm; Tin Bucket Drum), with powerhouse performer Danica De La Rey Jones (Hunting Jessica Brok; Unseen; For Colored Girls) in the role of Tessa, a brilliant young barrister, who climbs her way up from working class origins to the top of her game.
Prima Facie will be performed at The Baxter Studio from August 4 to 29, 2026, before transferring to the Barney Simon at the Market Theatre from September 17 until October 4, 2026.
Bookings can be made at Webtickets.
Prima Facie is a hard-hitting look at the “patriarchal power of the law” where the burden of proof and existing rules of evidence often work against victims of sexual violence.
Lighting Design for the production is by Tina Le Roux, with Set Design by Patrick Curtis and Sound Design by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder.
The 2022 London production of the show was nominated for five Laurence Olivier Awards, with wins for Best New Play and Best Actress for Jodie Comer, who subsequently won a Tony Award for the same role on Broadway in New York.
“Beyond merely presenting a gripping staging of Prima Facie on South African stages, I’m excited by the opportunity this creates to use the production strategically to deepen the discussion around its concerns and themes with our audiences,” says director Neil Coppen.
“Miller’s play poses some tough and provocative questions around the law and legal systems that are supposedly put in place to protect us all. I think the play really asks the questions around who created the law in the first place and Tessa’s, the protagonists journey, reveals how it’s clearly been constructed to serve and protect a select and powerful few.”
“I’m always inspired by complex and contemporary texts that speak to the world we are navigating and I’m very much looking forward to working with Danica on this,” he says.
Neil Coppen is a renowned and prolific storyteller and theatre-maker who has won several major awards for his writing, design and direction work including Standard Bank Ovation Awards, Naledis, Fiesta and Kanna Awards, the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Drama 2011 and the 2019 Olive Schreiner Prize for Drama. Most recently, he won the Cape Town Theatre Award (formerly Fleur du Cap Theatre Award) for Best Director and, with Mpume Mthombeni, Best New South African Script, for Isidlamlilo/The Fire Eater, which won awards in all seven categories in which the production was nominated.
Danica De La Rey Jones is a magnetic force in the South African film industry. With over a decade of industry experience, she has built a career defined by high-stakes performances and an unflinching emotional range. She has been seen on screen in the lead role of the action feature Hunting Jessica Brok, which secured a 100-cinema North American releasealongside UK and European distribution. Other roles include the complex villain “TK” in Netflix’s Unseen (Season 2) while on stage she has captivated audiences in productions such as James Ngcobo’s For Colored Girls.
“Prima Facie is a compelling, incisive theatrical drama,” says How Now Brown Cow producer Julie-Anne McDowell. “Danica is known for her magnetic, powerful presence on screen and we can’t wait to see her transfer that to thrill theatre audiences in Prima Facie.”
Prima Facie will be presented at The Baxter Studio from August 4 to 29.
How Now Brown Cow in association with The Market Theatre presents the production in Johannesburg from September 17 to October 4, at The Market Theatre.
Book now for Prima Facie:
*The Baxter Studio: August 4 t-29. Book at Webtickets
*The Market Theatre: September 17 to October 4. Book at Webtickets
Duration: 75 mins (No Interval)
Age Restriction: NO UNDER 14s (Content Warning: Expect strong references to sexual assault, violence, and potentially triggering content)
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About the team:
Neil Coppen – director Prima Facie
Neil Coppen is a renowned and prolific storyteller and theatre-maker hailing from Kwa-Zulu Natal . Coppen has won several major awards for his writing, design and direction work including Standard Bank Ovation Awards, Naledi’s, Fiesta and Kanna Awards, the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Drama 2011 and the 2019 Olive Schreiner Prize for Drama.
Some of Coppen’s most acclaimed theatre works (taught in schools and universities locally and internationally) include Tin Bucket Drum (Published by Wits University Press), Tree Boy, Abnormal Loads (published by Junkets) and NewFoundLand (published by Junkets) and his adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm toured South Africa for over five-years to sold out seasons. He also directed an acclaimed online reimagining of Hamlet in 2023.
In 2014 Coppen co-founded the multi award-winning research based theatre company Empatheatre alongside Mpume Mthombeni and Dylan Mcgarry and has worked consistently as the companies head dramaturg and director on the productions Soil & Ash, Ulwembu, The Last Country , Boxes, Lalela Ulwandle, Umkhosi Wenala and Unruly starring Andrew Buckland.
In 2022 Coppen alongside visual artist Vaughn Sadie and in collaboration with a community of Oudtshoorn based arts practitioners founded The Karoo Kaarte project (supported by the KKNK). Karoo Kaarte is a large-scale public participative storytelling and archiving project whose theatre productions Op Hierie Dag (2022) Droomkraan Kronieke (2023), Die Swartmerrie (2024) and Kroon en Konfetti (2025) have won several Kanna and Fiesta awards.
Coppen recently co-wrote and directed Empatheatre’s hit play Isidlamlilo/The Fire Eater which premiered at NAF 2022 and is currently touring both locally and internationally. He recently won the Cape Town Theatre Award (formerly Fleur du Cap Theatre Award) for Best Director for this production, which garnered a total of seven awards, winning in each of the categories for which it was nominated.
Coppen is currently a research associate at the University of Johannesburg.
Danica De La Rey Jones
Danica De La Rey Jones is a magnetic force in the South African film industry, rapidly becoming one of the country’s most bankable international exports. A rare “natural” talent with over a decade of industry experience, Danica has built a career defined by high-stakes performances and an unflinching emotional range.
Her transition from arthouse darling to commercial powerhouse was cemented with her lead role in the action feature Hunting Jessica Brok. Performing her own gruelling fight choreography with only two weeks of prep, Danica proved herself as a high-octane physical performer. The film’s success, securing a 100-cinema North American releasealongside UK and European distribution, highlights her cross-continental appeal and ability to carry a major commercial franchise.
Whether she is commanding the screen as the complex villain “TK” in Netflix’s Unseen (Season 2) or captivating audiences on stage in James Ngcobo’s For Colored Girls, Danica’s presence is undeniable. From her raw debut in the festival-favourite Aya to her current status as a leading action star, she remains a fearless, versatile artist who delivers both critical acclaim and global commercial viability.
How Now Brown Cow:
How Now Brown Cow was launched in 2020 in the midst of a global pandemic. The company, founded by Actor and Writer Julie-Anne McDowell, was established to offer world class South African and international works for local and international audiences and stages.
During the global theatre shut-down of 2020 and 2021, How Now Brown Cow launched the How Now Brown Cow Writer’s Collective which saw the commissioning of 12 new South African scripts several of which are now in the next phase of development. In 2022 the Production Company released their first short-film, The Hive, which was screened to critical acclaim on the international and local film festival circuit. The Beauty Queen of Leenane was How Now Brown Cow’s first stage production in South Africa which was presented in Johannesburg in October 2022 garnering multiple award nominations and winning in 7 categories including Best Production, before it transferred to The Baxter’s Pam Golding where it too played to great acclaim winning further awards for the production. How Now Brown Cow co-presented Greg Homann’s newly commissioned South African comedy A Marry Little Christmas at The Market Theatre in December2023. In 2024 How Now Brown Cow presented another newly commissioned South African play, Rosalind Butler’s EXPELLED which played to sold out seasons in Cape Town and Johannesburg in the first quarter of the year. In 2025, How Now Brown Cow presented Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout’s My Name is Lucy Barton in Cape Town, Johannesburg and at the Hilton Arts Festival. The company also partnered with Showtime Management to bring the South African Premiere of the Broadway Award-Winning Musical DEAR EVAN HANSEN to audiences in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
For more information, please visit www.hownowbrowncow.co.za
❇ Suzie Miller’s play Prima Facie, starring Danica De La Ray Jones, will be on in South Africa, directed by Neil Coppen for How Now Cow Productions. It will be staged in Cape Town at The Baxter Studio from August 4 to 29, 2026, before transferring to Joburg, to the Barney Simon at the Market Theatre from September 17 until October 4, 2026. Sponsored feature. Images supplied.
