Prima Facie Content Warnings

By Suzie Miller
Directed Kate Champion 

Recommended Age 15+ 

This production contains strong themes of sexual assault, coarse language, use of haze and smoke effects. 

Please note the following content warnings may contain spoilers. 

Abuse
Emotional, verbal, physical, domestic abuse (mild)
Character described as lurching at another character and almost spitting at her. Allusion to a man throwing a plate of food at the wall and his mother having to clean it up. Description of bruised and beaten women. 

Coarse language (mild)
Words spoken include ‘fuck’ and ‘shit.’ 

Haze
Smoke effect (mild)
Use of theatrical haze and smoke effects during sections of the performance. 

Rape
Sexual abuse, sexual assault, sexual violence, statutory rape (strong)
The central character of the piece, and narrator of the piece, is a defence lawyer who deals with Sexual Assault cases and represents the defendants. High and consistent instances of sexual assault are discussed and presented as part of the lead character’s profession, such as; 

• Not wanting to know if an accused man committed a crime to maintain objectivity in defence. 

• The ambiguous areas of consent in legal terms, such as ‘you have to prove that HE DID NOT KNOW there was NO CONSENT. That it was reasonable for him to think it was okay.’ 

• Extensive scenes of sexual assault victims being cross examined about their sexual assault experiences. 

Also spoken are experiences by the lead character in first person account of rape and sexual assault; ‘I push him away’ ‘I feel him lift me up. Carefully carry me to the bed’ ‘I fall partly asleep. Damien’s face is then kissing mine.’ ‘I move my face, his hands are all over me.’ ‘Feel his hands and his legs pushing against me, I am suddenly very awake. He’s on top of me but his hand is on my face.’ ‘He takes my hands and I can’t move’ ‘He’s inside me, it’s rough and painful. And it hurts something horrible.’ ‘I feel myself leave my body.’ ‘His hand is over my mouth.’ ‘I’m struggling to get out from under him.’ ‘It goes on and on.’ ‘Searing pain inside of me, I want to vomit again’. 

Self harm
Self harm presented on stage (strong)
Descriptions of self harm expressed ‘I dig my thighs with my nails, make myself feel the pain.’ ‘Dig my nails into my palms.’ 

Sex
Descriptions of sex (strong)
Descriptions of flirtatious actions; ‘Damien’s hand lingers on my back as he talks to me’, ‘Damien’s hand around my waist’, ‘Damien is kissing my neck, it’s nice’, ‘I find myself kissing Damo’, ‘We fuck on the sofa in his office’, ‘Later, in bed. Kissing and touching.’ 

Trauma
PTSD, victim blaming (strong)
In the world of the characters, that of criminal defence law, there is a culture of questioning sexual assault victims’ validity. The lead character and narrator both engages in and experiences this; ‘The restaurant bill indicates there was a lot of sake drunk by you both, witnesses say you were giggling yes?’ and ‘You took off most of your clothes, is that right?’ After being subjected to sexual assault, our narrator shows sign of distress and trauma, including; having to see the perpetrator of the rape being at her workplace, having to go through many uncomfortable processes of legally trialling her attacker, including describing her attack to police in reporting the rape, reliving the event over and over in the courtroom process, an extensive scene of cross examination by a QC lawyer of her testimony – questioning at length small details about her statement, and having to go to hospital and use a rape kit and be examined extensively. During this period of the work the play also touches on instances of guilt at not doing enough to stop the attack. 

Violence
Physical assault (mild)
Descriptions of a fight in a bar – with result of ‘blood encrusted forehead.’