Shattering. A must-watch for anyone who has produced or has ever been a childRating
Unmissable!
Writer and formerly practising lawyer Suzie Miller has built upon her dazzling one-woman show Prima Facie with Jodie Comer, roping in Gone Girl star Rosamund Pike for Inter Alia. A sold-out run at the National Theatre and Oscar nominations followed in July 2025. Despite 4-star reviews, I was primed for disappointment due to a lacklustre review from none other than my own mother, who having watched it at home on National Theatre Live, compared it poorly to Prima Facie. If you are reading this, Mother (which you most likely are), you have a long discussion train-ing its way towards you.
Yes, the themes of sexual assault and the law are present in both, but find me a Chekhov play that isn’t about unhappy Russian aristocrats. Miller has expanded not only the structure of Prima Facie but has also delved deeper into the intersection of morality and parenthood, with dispiriting results.
Miller interviewed ten female judges and compiled some shocking statistics in the blurb: the first female judge was only appointed in 1962 (Elizabeth Lane QC), and proven sexual offences rose by 47% between April 2023 and March 2024, to name just two. This weaving of frightening and pertinent issues should make anyone sit up straight.
Pike is Jessica Parks, a judge trying to be everything to everyone: a mother, a feminist, a staunch supporter of women in the courtroom, and an accommodating wife to her lawyer husband. A good friend, a kind neighbour, a fun dinner party host – the juggle and balance that successful women attempt in a world not designed for them. We are inside her head, a remarkable feat crafted by Miller’s perpetual prose and Justin Martin’s smart directing.
It just doesn’t stop: Pike monologues back and forth between childhood memories of her “bestest one”, the sensitive and accused son Harry (Cormac McAlinden) and dinner parties and raunchy sex with her emotionally stunted husband Michael (Jamie Glover). Courtroom sparring with prosecutors, and karaoke with the girls. But where are the women? The astounding choice to have the three adults, with young boys and girls only appearing in the final, searing crescendo, speaks volumes. It requires Pike to inhabit starched yellow Macintoshes for young Harry, and suit jackets and imaginary figures for everyone else.
Miriam Buether’s cluttered kitchen and looming forest backdrop, along with Martin’s sleek touch, craft a piece that builds and builds to myocardial infarction proportions. Nick Pinchbeck’s musical direction features live guitar and drums played onstage, appearing from the gloom, while Pike speaks like a rockstar into a mic while on stage – sorry, behind the bench – illustrating precisely the fantasy and falsity of the legal system.
This is the only time I think I will ever type this, but 1 hour 40 minutes shuttles by, only noted by my almond-sized bladder. The pace and urgency are integral to the point of view of Parks, and an interval would interrupt the endurance.
This is a marathon of a play, one that Pike undoubtedly rises to but is visibly shaken by. Sweating in the first minutes, she never stops speaking, dancing, shouting, judging, and agonising over her choices as a mother and a woman. In this mythic undertaking, characterisation does slip a little, but you try running a 5k while doing a Glaswegian accent. The blokes do well but are sidelined by the focus of the piece and the sheer volume and dynamism of its lead.
Inter Alia (meaning “among other things” in Latin) is a must-watch for everyone who has produced or has ever been a child. So shattering, it renews my faith in theatre while simultaneously destroying my faith in parenthood and humanity.
Written by Suzie Miller
Directed by Justin Martin
Set and Costume Design by Miriam Buether
Lighting Design by Natasha Chivers
Sound Design by Ben and Max Ringham
Video Design by Willie Williams (Treatment Studio)
Composed by Erin LeCount and James Jacob (Jakwob)
Movement and Intimacy Director: Lucy Hind
Music Director: Nick Pinchbeck
Inter Alia plays at Wyndham’s Theatre until Saturday 20 June
