Inter Alia review – Rosamund Pike rules in searing legal drama from Prima Facie team | Theatre

Three years in the past, playwright Suzie Miller gave Jodie Comer a career-defining function together with her West Finish debut in Prima Facie. Rosamund Pike’s stage CV already has loads of highs, from Hitchcock Blonde to Hedda Gabler, however her efficiency in Miller’s follow-up play has been keenly anticipated, provided that it reunites a few of the staff that made Prima Facie a smash hit.That is an virtually deliberate counterpoint to Prima Facie, through which a defence lawyer, skilled at taking part in the system to demolish rape prices in opposition to her shoppers, is undone by her personal expertise of sexual assault. Miller needed to spotlight how poorly the legislation serves victims, and Inter Alia presents the identical difficulty from the flipside with a feminine decide, decided to make the system extra simply, whose world is upended by an accusation near house.Jessica Parks (Pike) is the sort of multi-skilled lady you simply know the authorized system wants extra of. She brings humanity and compassion to her courtroom, using her comfortable expertise to guard weak witnesses whereas reducing down cocky male counsel with a tone that may “lower via tendons and bone”. However she’s not only a crown court docket decide, she’s additionally an skilled juggler, in the best way that high-achieving girls so typically have to be. Her profession exists “inter alia” – as Miller places it, within the cracks of everybody else’s lives.Humanity and compassion … Jasper Talbot, Jamie Glover and Rosamund Pike in Inter Alia, designed by Miriam Buether. {Photograph}: Manuel HarlanAll the hallmarks of Justin Martin’s pulsating course are right here, from the onstage guitar and drums ratcheting up the strain to Pike’s bodily, sometimes anarchic efficiency. She is in fixed movement, carrying many alternative outfits – karaoke queen, horny spouse, Marigold-clad dishwasher and laundrywoman – and Miriam Buether’s set combines with Natasha Chivers’ lighting to seize the dissolution of boundaries between the courtroom and residential.“You reside such as you work, every thing accomplished at velocity,” a pal tells Jessica: it might sound like a badge of honour, nevertheless it’s additionally an indictment of the society that requires it of her. The time period “emotional labour” isn’t used however is definitely current: whereas Jessica prepares a cocktail party for 16, her husband Michael’s solely duty is the cheese. He has it delivered.This isn’t a solo present: Jamie Glover supplies the marital stress as Michael, who has been crushed by his spouse to each KC and the bench. Harry, their 18-year-old son, mooches about virtually silently, alternating, in Jasper Talbot’s portrayal, between delicate, sulky and comically drunk. However what start as peripheral figures – to be organised, beloved and cared for – are given important voices of their very own because the narrative progresses.Delicate and sulky … Jasper Talbot with Rosamund Pike in Inter Alia. {Photograph}: Manuel HarlanJessica stays the ethical and emotional centre: her tragedy unfolds like that of an Ibsen protagonist failed by these round them. As a mom she has accomplished the perfect she will be able to, each to protect her little one from bullies and to boost him true to her feminist beliefs (there’s a really humorous scene the place they’ve the porn discuss). However she will be able to’t defend him from social media, or peer stress or, ultimately, himself.As a lawyer turned playwright, Miller’s work has an ingrained advocacy – for years, she has used it to argue for social and authorized justice. And one of many uncommon objections to Prima Facie’s script – the best way its didactic dialogue impinged on the drama – could possibly be upheld right here. Decided to present each difficulty and angle a good listening to, Inter Alia sheds its nimbleness and wit because it grapples with the intense stuff in its later levels, that means the tempo slows even because the confrontations turn into extra heightened.Because the set darkens and Jessica turns into actually misplaced within the woods, there’s a way that we’re all groping, a little bit blindly, in direction of an ending, even Pike. However the manufacturing stays a searing commentary on the justice system and a purposefully uncomfortable perception into up to date parenting. Prima Facie stays as related because it was three years in the past – a UK tour, with a returning Comer, has been introduced for 2026 – and this is a perfect companion piece. On the Lyttelton theatre, Nationwide Theatre, London, till 13 September. In cinemas from 4 September.