Jodie Comer says play Prima Facie makes men ‘look back at their own behaviour’

Actor Jodie Comer has said Prima Facie, a play she is touring the UK and Ireland with next year, forces men to “look back at their own behaviour”.

The one-woman play, which saw a run in London’s West End in 2022, follows the story of a barrister named Tessa, who specialises in defending men accused of sexual assault, and whose view of the legal system changes after she is sexually assaulted herself.

Speaking about the reaction to the play from men, the 32-year-old said in an interview with British GQ: “I imagine it’s quite confronting, I don’t know.

“Maybe also, when they read what it’s about, they think, ‘well, that’s not something that’s directed at me’.

“I imagine, for a man, it will force them to look back at their own behaviour, which I imagine would be – or could be – potentially very uncomfortable. But (sexual assault) isn’t ‘a woman’s issue’, you know what I mean?”

She added that a male police officer who had visited the show wrote a letter to the production afterwards.

Comer said: “I don’t think I’ve had a deep, meaningful conversation with many men about the play, actually.

“I do know there was a male police officer that came in one night, and he wrote in to the production.

“He was kind of saying, ‘this is me – I see myself, and I recognise the kind of work that needs to be done as a police officer’.”

The actor, who is best known for playing Villanelle in BBC spy series Killing Eve, said many women had contacted the production after seeing it to share their personal stories.

Speaking about the interactions, she explained: “It’s so beautiful, and it’s so rare, for someone to look you in the eyes and share something of themselves, and there’s so much that isn’t said, but even in just the briefest of moments, it’s like, ‘that was me, or, I feel that’.”

The Heroes Issue of British GQ is available via digital download and on newsstands on June 10.