After The Applause

Inter Alia is the second of playwright Suzie Miller’s forays into the world of justice and law with a particular focus on the roles of females within it. Jodie Comer played a solicitor defending men accused of sexual assault in Prima Facie, a play which took the world by storm and has received countless West End re-runs since its first NT showing in 2022. Now it was the turn of Rosamund Pike to take the stage in Miller’s next project, which this time, focuses more on the area of female judges, with a particular focus on family life and balancing her hard work life with being a good mother to her son. When it was announced it immediately received a huge wave of attention causing it to be sold out (mostly) even before the previews.

In my opinion Inter Alia is definitely a contender for best new play of the year, as I have never left a theatre so moved with emotion as I have when I trudged out of the Lyttelton..

Miller’s writing is so clever. Jessica Parks (Pikes’ character) constantly addresses the audience and tells us the story. It makes the play fast paced and much more engaging, certainly suitable for its 1hour 40 minute runtime. Miller frames it so that we can see the three strands of Parks, we begin seeing her legal persona. She is firm and assertive in a world full of men. She begins the play by screaming ‘the fucking patriarchy’ into the microphone as if she were a rockstar. We see her dealing with the smirking men and red faced barristers and also get a glimpse into internal dialogue as well. I loved that the first scene of the play was accompanied by rock music, as well as her having a mic stand that she constantly picks up and moves about, the courtroom was her stage and she could do whatever she wanted.

From the first minute of the play you can tell that Rosamund Pike was built for this role. Every gesture is filled with anger and frustration when she is in court, however, suddenly we are transported to her kitchen and each gesture is full of love and upmost care, before finally moving into a karaoke bar with her friends where she exerts deep relaxation and freedom. She was absolutely superb and she is the reason that the first 50 minutes of the play were not boring in the slightest. Miller used this section to set out the main plot points and problems of the play, as well as giving the audience the background of Parks’ stressful life.

This is not a legal drama, we don’t get dramatic insight into the world of law, it is rather a reflection on the strain of a life working in justice on a family.

Michael Wheatley (Parks’ husband) is a barrister, he never quite made it to becoming a judge, much to his disappointment as he watched his wife climb above him. That means that Harry Wheatley, their son, has two parents caught in the jaws of a legal career, and this has implications for his development and education throughout adolescence with his developing masculinity. This is slightly hinted at earlier on in the play however, it is really delved into within the final scenes during emotional dialogue between Michael and Jessica about where they have gone wrong with their son.

Harry Wheatley (played absolutely superbly by Jasper Talbot) is presented at the beginning as a loving and kind teenager. Talbot plays this well misleading us on the type of person Harry is. We see him going to parties, coming back drunk (Talbot made me belly laugh during this bit, it was realistic, certainly!) and then waking up hungover and confused. However the way that Miller manages to flip this play so brilliantly from a delve into the family life of a stressed and busy family, into one of the most powerful pieces of theatre I have ever seen, is just breathtaking.

WARNING: Spoilers from this moment onwards, if you don’t want it to be spoiled skip to the my verdict section

Harry gets caught up with a rape case, something that Jessica and Michael specialise in, he gets accused and must go to court. As we go further into the story of the accusation we can see that Harry’s lovely facade is crumbling, as is the unity of the family. This is represented outstandingly by a transformative set by Miriam Buether as we see the walls of the house separate and we are left in a vast, dark forest with a little platform where the characters stand. This really presented the emotion well, and was paired with harsh lighting by Natasha Chivers. At times, it reminded me of watching a police interrogation and I loved the atmosphere it created.

The acting in the final scenes as Jessica realises her son is actually guilty, just had me speechless, it is absolutely award winning. She is such a talented actress, as are Jamie Glover and Jasper Talbot. A three-hander done by three sensational actors, with brilliant writing.

I enjoyed the directorial choice by Justin Martin to represent a young version of Harry on stage whilst Jessica was dealing with Harry’s rape allegation, we saw her holding young Harry’s hand the whole time as she found out horrible details about her son. It actually made me cry and I was so moved when in the final scene we see her let go of young Harry and firmly hold on to the Harry of the present’s hand and guide him to the police station to hand himself in. I had tears streaming down my face and it was actually hard to watch, just such a moving image that I don’t think I will ever forget. The whole ending was just sensational, with the music the lights and the young children playing in the background. It is hard to sum up how much emotion I felt and I feel it now even writing this!

MY VERDICT:

Wow! This production was just perfection, just absolutely sensational and I await the announcement of it’s West End transition (following a similar path to Prima Facie).

I stood up seconds after blackout, as did the whole audience (a lot of who were weeping like me). Jamie Glover and Jasper Talbot are both just brilliant and they play their character’s complications to a tee. Talbot is a name to watch certainly, he was simply faultless in my opinion.

However, Rosamund Pike. My word, what a performance from this sensational actress on her National Theatre debut. Everything was emotionally charged, every movement, every facial expression. There was thought behind everything and that is so difficult to achieve as an actor. This feels like the role she was born to play and everyone deserves to see her as Jessica Parks because it’s a performance that will leave you speechless.

I just adored this play and the messages it spreads , I strongly recommend it to all of you (when it gets its West End transfer). It will be some of best acting you see on stage, with a beautiful set, lights and music, and the writing will leave you moved and educated when you leave.