Latest news with #SuzieMiller
Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
How do you follow Prima Facie? With a play about boys, porn and parents
H ow do you follow a play like Prima Facie? Suzie Miller's blistering monologue (she prefers the word 'monodrama') about a promising young barrister who brings a rape case against a colleague was arguably the most electrifying theatrical event of the past five years. Its star, Jodie Comer, won an Olivier for a performance that went from funny to destroyed to defiant and back again, prompting a national conversation about the justice system. Not just national: the play went to Broadway and has now been performed in 36 countries and 30 languages. In September the Wicked star Cynthia Erivo will start filming a screen version. Given all this, is Miller suffering second-act nerves? 'Yeah,' she says, sounding not in the least nervous. (Now 61, the former lawyer has written dozens of plays, including two recently staged in Sydney.) Instead this warm, voluble Australian can't wait to rattle cages again. 'After Prima, the next question was — well, it's not women's problem that this is happening. There is a problem with how we define masculinity.'
Telegraph
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Jodie Comer: Women suppress rage
The actress Jodie Comer has said that women 'suppress' rage and have trouble expressing the emotion. Comer, 32, discussed her experience with portraying anger on stage, and said that she was 'not quite sure where to pull it from'. Speaking to British GQ about performing in Suzie Miller's one-woman play, Prima Facie, she said: 'I've always felt as if rage is something that I struggle to conjure up. 'I've realised my own [rage] just immediately goes to a very emotional place – my anger can so quickly go to tears.' She added: 'I think, as women, we suppress it and that's probably why I have trouble accessing it – I've done that so much that it feels kind of foreign, like I'm not quite sure where to pull it from.' The play, which ran 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. Comer, who will be touring the UK and Ireland with it next year, said it forced men to 'look back at their own behaviour' but that she hadn't had 'meaningful conversation' with many men about it as a result. She said: '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 it shouldn't just be…[Sexual assault] isn't 'a woman's issue'. You know what I mean?' Although she added that there was a male police officer who said the show helped him realise the work that law enforcement can do in such cases. 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. 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'.' She has previously won both a Tony Award and an Olivier Award for her performance in Prima Facie on the West End and on Broadway. Elsewhere, she stars in the post-apocalyptic horror sequel 28 Years Later, which is released on June 20.
Daily Mail
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
From a free art exhibition by Bob Dylan to 14-day-long Jane Austen festival – these are the best things to do in the UK this summer
Hooray! Summer is (sort of) here. Need something to do that isn't sitting in an almost-not-quite sunny park? Here are some cultural pursuits for this season: from a Nile Rogers gig in Halifax to an exhibition of Bob Dylan 's oil paintings. The concerts Neil Young was supposed to headline Glastonbury this year but, on 1st January, he pulled out because it was a 'corporate turn-off'. Then, 48 hours later, the 79-year-old changed his mind (apparently, there had been 'an error in the information' he'd received) and revealed he would, actually, headline the festival. It sounds like a lot of faff, but who cares: what matters is that the Canadian singer is also playing a show on 11th July in London's Hyde Park. Tickets start at £123, Cat Stevens is supporting, and, unlike Glasto, the experience requires no camping. After that, go to the Piece Hall in Halifax. On 29th August, the Venetian-looking outdoor concert venue is hosting Nile Rogers & CHIC. Tickets start at £55, Good times. The play In 2022, the Australian barrister-turned-playwright Suzie Miller had her first show put on in the West End. It was called Prima Facie and it was a one-woman drama starring Jodie Comer as a lawyer who gets sexually assaulted. It did so well it transferred to Broadway, was filmed and broadcast in cinemas across the country, and, also, got turned into a book. If you missed it, don't worry. This summer, Miller's at the National Theatre with another legal drama starring another Hollywood actress: Rosamund Pike. According to the National's website, Inter Alia, is about a crown court judge whose life is thrown 'completely off balance'. It runs from 10th July to 13th September. Tickets start at £30, The anniversaries If you haven't seen it yet, the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester has an exhibition on JMW Turner until 2nd November. It's in honour of the painter's 250th birthday and has original watercolours plus 71 prints that haven't been seen for more than 100 years. (Entry is free for Manchester locals and £1 for visitors.) And there's another British bigwig who turns 250 this year: Jane Austen. The novelist is being celebrated everywhere. In September, there's a 14-day-long Austen festival in Bath; from 14th June there's an exhibition about Austen's relationship with the seaside in Dorset; and on 16th December – her actual birthday – there's a Thanksgiving Service at her family's chapel in Hampshire. Bonnets at the ready. The film Lincoln Castle was built in 1068 by William the Conqueror, has intact medieval walls, two motes, and is home to one of the four original copies of Magna Carta. Just as importantly, on 16th August, the castle is also hosting a back-to-back cinema screening of Mamma Mia and Mamma Mia Here We Go Again in its gardens. According to the website, fancy dress and singing along are encouraged. Tickets start at £26, The festival Most festivals involve dancing/not showering/wading about in mud – which sounds wonderful, if you're aged between 18-28. If you're not, The Queen's Reading Room Festival might be preferable. The royal-backed literary weekend was started in 2024 and is held in Derbyshire at Chatsworth House (as in Mr Darcy's pile in the film version of Pride and Prejudice). This year's line-up of speakers is excellent and exhaustive: there's Jilly Cooper, Helen Fielding, Sebastian Faulks, Robert Harris, Rupert Everett, Richard Osman, Natasha Brown and lots of others. It runs from 19-20th September and tickets for the day are £20, This year's line-up of speakers at the Queen's Reading Room Festival is excellent and exhaustive The exhibition Bob Dylan has written more than 600 songs, bagged ten Grammys, and is the only musician to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. He is, also, a good painter. Until 9th July, the Halcyon Gallery in London is displaying 97 of the 83-year-old's oil paintings. Subjects are varied: one shows a man playing guitar, another is a still life of some beans being poured from a can into a pot. It's titled Beans for Breakfast. Everything is for sale and, while the gallery doesn't disclose prices, on the art-selling website Artsy some of Dylan's paintings go for up to £250,000. Thankfully, the exhibition itself is free.
ABC News
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
ICYMI: Sarah Snook scores Tony nomination, Kneecap focus of UK counterterrorism investigation
Welcome to ICYMI, where we recap the pop culture and entertainment news you might have missed over the past week. Sarah Snook and The Picture of Dorian Gray score 6 Tony nominations Australian actor Sarah Snook has earned a Tony Award nomination for best actress in a play. Best known for her role as The Picture of Dorian Gray is the latest Australian play to be acknowledged at the Tony Awards, after Suzie Miller's Prima Facie in 2023. ( Supplied: Michael Cassel Group/Marc Brenner ) The rest of the Australian team behind the production — director Kip Williams, designer Marg Howell, video designer David Bergman, lighting designer Nick Schlieper, and composer Clemence Williams — all also received nods in their categories, taking the show to six nominations. The one-woman Last year, at the UK's Olivier Awards, In her Tony's category, Snook is up against such heavyweights as Mia Farrow (for The Roommate) and Sadie Sink (for John Proctor Is the Villain). Other Tony Award nominees include George Clooney (for starring in the theatre adaptation of his movie Good Night and Good Luck) and the Pussycat Dolls' Nicole Scherzinger (for starring in Sunset Boulevard). Kneecap investigated by UK counterterrorism police British counterterrorism detectives have confirmed an investigation into alleged historical comments made by Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap. Mo Chara, DJ Próvaí and Móglaí Bap of Kneecap outside the Hawthorn Pub in Belfast, Northern Ireland. ( Getty Images: Michael Cooper ) The Irish-language rappers from Northern Ireland were reported to police over footage from a 2024 concert in which a band member appeared to say: "The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP." Footage from another concert, in 2023, appears to show a member of the trio shouting, "Up Hamas, up Hezbollah" — both banned organisations in the UK. London's Metropolitan Police force concluded that the evidence in the videos were grounds for further investigations for "potential offences". Photo shows Kneecap photo Controversial Irish rap group Kneecap tell their origin story, in their own language, in a riotous new biopic. Kneecap has exploded in popularity and notoriety since the release of Rich Peppiatt's 2024 quasi-biopic about the band's origins, where the members played slightly fictionalised versions of themselves. The trio have been praised for invigorating the Irish-language cultural scene in Northern Ireland, while also attracting ire for their outspoken political displays. The band was the subject of a The band released a statement on Monday apologising to the families of former Labour MP Jo Cox, who was killed by a far-right attacker in 2016, and Conservative legislator David Amess, murdered in 2021 by an Islamic State supporter. Loading Instagram content Band members Liam Og Ó Hannaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin and JJ Ó Dochartaigh denied supporting Hamas or Hezbollah and condemned all attacks on civilians, while accusing their detractors of an organised "smear campaign". "An extract of footage, deliberately taken out of all context, is now being exploited and weaponised, as if it were a call to action," the statement said. "Kneecap's message has always been — and remains — one of love, inclusion, and hope." The band implied in the statement that the action taken in the UK is related to their performance at last month's Coachella Music and Arts Festival in California, where they displayed pro-Palestine messaging towards the end of their set. Loading Twitter content Several Kneecap gigs have been cancelled following the controversy, and British politicians have also asked Robert De Niro expresses 'love and support' for daughter's gender transition Airyn De Niro, the child of two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro and actress and model Toukie Smith, has come out as transgender. In an "Trans women being honest and open, especially [in] public spaces like social media and getting to see them in their success … I'm like, 'You know what? Maybe it's not too late for me.'" Loading Instagram content Her father "I don't know what the big deal is … I love all my children." Meanwhile in the UK, more than 1,200 actors and industry professionals have signed an Photo shows An illustration of the progressive pride flag If you're feeling confused by the language surrounding the LGBTQIA+ community, here's a simple explanation of some of the most common terms. Last month, the The letter's signatories include Emma Watson, Eddie Redmayne, Ncuti Gatwa and Bella Ramsey, who say the ruling "threatens the safety of trans, non-binary, and intersex people living in the UK", and call for urgent protections "from discrimination and harassment in all areas of the industry". "This is our opportunity to be on the right side of history." Kendrick Lamar is going to… Ballarat? Your eyes don't deceive you — Kendrick Lamar will be performing in Ballarat later this year. He's headlining the return of Spilt Milk festival, and is joined on the line-up by big names like Doechii, Dominic Fike, Schoolboy Q, Sara Landry and more. Australian acts will be sharing the stage with these big names across the festival run, with The Dreggs, South Summit, Don West, Ennaria, Lyric, Club Angel, Mia Wray and more representing the local music scene. The festival will then head to Perth and Canberra, before finishing up on the Gold Coast in December. Photo shows Kendrick Lamar smiles and points as he performs in a blue and black leather jacket, blue jeans, gloves and a black backwards cap No crying over this one, mates. It's an exciting return for regional Australians, after Spilt Milk took a break in 2024 and long-held Groovin the Moo festival confirmed it wouldn't be returning in 2025 after also But it's the concept that Pulitzer-Prize-winning, Grammy-Awards-sweeping, Only time will tell. Check out Talkin' 'Bout Your Gen is back on Ten 16 years since its original premiere, Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation is coming back. First hosted by Shaun Micallef on Channel Ten, the beloved game show ran from 2009 to 2012, seeing warring generations go head to head in trivia and silly games, with guest stars that included everyone from Sophie Monk to Joe Hockey. Loading YouTube content The popular family series featured Amanda Keller representing Baby Boomers, Charlie Pickering for Gen X, and Josh Thomas as the token millennial/Gen Y. The nationally broadcast series considerably raised the profiles of Pickering and Thomas, who became mainstays in both Australian and international media. Over-the-top costume episodes were common (see: Loading YouTube content The format was briefly adopted by Channel Nine in 2018, with Shaun Micallef back as host and Andy Lee carrying the flag for Gen Y, but was axed in 2019. Now, the show is returning to its home network, with comedian Anne Edmonds to take over hosting duties. Comedian Anne Edmonds — known for her stand-up and Have You Been Paying Attention appearances, will host the latest revamp of Talkin 'Bout Your Gen. ( Supplied: Network Ten ) While team captains for each generation are yet to be announced, it seems boomers have been axed, with only Gen X, Y and Z set to battle it out. Trailer of the week: Weapons Zach Cregger's mysterious horror Weapons has a lot of lore to live up to. Not only is it the follow-up to his beloved (and highly profitable) 2022 movie Barbarian, but the script also sparked a bidding war that ended in a $38 million sale and Jordan Peele allegedly firing his managers after his production studio was outbid by New Line. But if the creepy first trailer is anything to go by, Cregger might just pull off the best horror of 2025 (watch out, Sinners). Loading YouTube content
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Rosamund Pike says return to stage after more than a decade ‘frightening'
Gone Girl star Rosamund Pike has said her return to the stage after more than a decade is 'frightening'. The Saltburn actress, 46, is to make her National Theatre debut this year in the play Inter Alia – an examination of modern masculinity and motherhood from the mind of Prima Facie writer Suzie Miller. Pike was last seen on stage in Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler at the Theatre Royal Bath in 2010 and has also been in productions of Madame De Sade, Gaslight, Summer And Smoke, and Hitchcock Blonde. The perfect line-up to send us into the weekend! 🫶 A huge thanks to tonight's guests, Rosamund Pike, Kris Marshall, Zahra Ahmadi and Olivia Dean ✨ Missed #TheOneShow? Watch on @BBCiPlayer 👉 — BBC The One Show (@BBCTheOneShow) March 28, 2025 'All through my 20s I was on stage a lot and it felt sort of natural and right, and now it's frightening,' she told BBC's The One Show. 'I'm playing a judge in a play by Suzie Miller, who wrote Prima Facie. It's a very exciting project. 'It's also about a mother raising a son, and I have two sons, so that's very close to my heart. 'And it's really about the juggle of life, and when you've given your life over to the law, is the law enough when things start to get rough? So it's challenging and exciting.' In the play the British actress plays High Court judge Jessica Parks, who has 'to reckon her professional life and role as wife, mother, friend and feminist'. It is directed by Justin Martin, who also worked on Olivier Award-winning Prima Facie, about a criminal defence lawyer who is sexually assaulted. The Golden Globe-winning actress also appeared on the show to speak about series three of epic fantasy show The Wheel Of Time. She said: 'We're very proud of it. We're a very close cast. We've weathered a lot together, and this is definitely our most elaborate and complex (series). 'And I think it's the offering we're most proud of. It's the most ambitious, and it's beautiful.' National Theatre Live is set to broadcast Inter Alia live to cinemas around the UK on September 4 2025. The play is being staged between July 10 and September 13 2025 at the Lyttelton Theatre on the South Bank.
