The Chinese stage adaptation of Australian playwright Suzie Miller's Prima Facie will be staged at Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center from Aug 27 to 30.
Directed by Zhou Ke and produced by Chao Bian, the Chinese-language production stars Chinese actress Chen Haoyu as Tessa, a lawyer whose faith in evidence, procedure and the burden of proof is shattered after she is sexually assaulted.
The production arrives in Beijing after touring Shanghai, Nanjing in Jiangsu province, Hangzhou and Ningbo in Zhejiang province, Shenzhen in Guangdong province and Chengdu in Sichuan province, and will continue to Tianjin and Suzhou in Jiangsu.
For the Chinese staging, Zhou uses horse racing as a central visual metaphor. Railings evoke both a racetrack and a courtroom, reflecting the competitive world in which Tessa has learned not only to survive, but to win.
The production avoids a realistic courtroom setting, relying on space, lighting, sound and Chen's performance to create the pressure of the legal system closing in around her.
During rehearsals, Chen repeatedly compared Miller's English script with the Chinese translation, searching for details that could reshape Tessa's emotional journey.
Prima Facie confronts sexual violence, institutional power and the limits of a legal system. But at its center is one woman, alone onstage, confronting the painful possibility that the system she once trusted can be both necessary — and insufficient.
Since its premiere in Sydney in 2019, Miller's Prima Facie has been staged around the world. Its acclaimed 2022 West End production, starring Jodie Comer, won two Olivier Awards.
