Sophia Forrest is sitting cross legged on a swivel chair at the Black Swan State Theatre Company in Perth. It’s week three of rehearsals for Prima Facie, Suzie Miller’s hit play, which returns to Australia from the West End and Broadway, and the 29-year-old actor is a bundle of nervous energy. Their piercing blue eyes flit across the room, words tumbling out at full speed.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. No question. I have never been more mentally stimulated, invigorated and challenged,” Forrest says. “I had a moment last week where I just collapsed on the floor and just sobbed and was like, I can’t do this.”
“But I just relish every opportunity to play in the room with Kate [Champion, the play’s director] and work on this amazing script. She’s given me the biggest challenge of my career and I’m really enjoying it, no matter how hard it is.”
The Perth-raised actor is taking on the role of Tessa Ensler, a ruthless criminal defence barrister in Miller’s one-woman play. Prima Facie premiered at Sydney’s SBW Stables theatre in 2019, and has since soared to meteoric heights with critically acclaimed seasons on the West End and Broadway (both starring Jodie Comer), and a slew of awards including an Olivier for Miller, for best new play.
In Prima Facie, Ensler’s blind faith in the equalising power of the law is put to the test after she is sexually assaulted. She discovers that being on the witness stand is often a losing game – highlighting the immense cost victims bear when they speak out and exposing a system where “legal truth” (whatever can be proved beyond doubt) reigns over actual truth.
The Western Australian staging of Prima Facie sees Forrest return to their roots: not only their home town, but the stage where the actor made their theatrical debut, in Black Swan State Theatre Company’s 2017 Let the Right One In. The Sydney-based actor has since appeared in many TV series including Love Child, Barons and Bali 2002, and in films Aquaman and Ride Like a Girl.
In Prima Facie, Forrest not only plays Ensler, but 25 other voices on stage – from police officers to judges and medical staff – all the while carrying Ensler’s intense character arc from lawyer to victim across the 90-minute production.
“The preparation is insane,” Forrest says. “There’s so much rote learning. I think I’ve handwritten the entire play out now twice. I’ve even mapped out the play’s choreography by hand. If you were to put a fit-bit tracker on me, it’s mental.”
Forrest is the daughter of mining billionaires Andrew and Nicola Forrest. Nicola was the chair of Black Swan State Theatre Company’s board until 2021, and remains its life patron. Despite the tenuous optics of this, Forrest was cast after a rigorous auditioning process featuring scores of actors from across the country.
“It was quite competitive,” says Champion. “A lot of actors came out of the woodwork. But it ends up being a combination of so many things … instinct, charisma, type and moment in life.”
“Sophia is really sharp, really intelligent. And when you do a lot of callbacks, by the last ones you start working as director-actor, so I felt a real rapport with how they were able to take notes and the intelligence with which they were able to interpret them. I knew it was going to be a good working relationship.”
Despite their rapport, Forrest was convinced they weren’t going to land the role: “I think my first thought when I got the role was, ‘Oh no, I didn’t audition to get it! Like, what do you mean? I have to do it now?’” This lack of belief was, in part, due to their experience as a non-binary actor.
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“The acting world is still incredibly heteronormative and cisgendered. My casting bracket was always ‘pretty blonde girl’ but when I came out of the gender closet as non-binary and cut my hair off, the brakes pumped on,” Forrest says. “Kate was the first casting experience I’ve ever had where she looked beyond my physical appearance.”
With its runaway success across the globe, Prima Facie has not only changed perspectives but led to direct changes in how the legal system handles sexual assault. After seeing the play, a senior British judge revised the instructions given to juries in rape cases; in Northern Ireland, a recording of Prima Facie is now mandatory viewing for high court judges considering sexual assault cases.
Forrest hopes Prima Facie will also prompt an overhaul of WA’s outdated consent laws. The state is one of the only jurisdictions in Australia that does not acknowledge how intoxication affects the ability of a person to consent to sexual acts, which Forrest calls “madness”.
“We need to change it so that the accused has to prove there was consent, rather than [the survivor] proving there was no consent … it’s this entitlement that is completely overriding empathy and driving these prolific numbers of sexual assault that we’re seeing in the country, around the world.”
Champion says she was blown away when she first saw Prima Facie staged in Sydney in 2019. Five years, a few awards and a novel adaptation later (with a film starring Cynthia Erivo also in the works), its themes are perhaps even more vital today.
“Sometimes, when you’re making shows, you just think, ‘oh god, is this just fluffy entertainment?’” Champion says. “But these moments remind you that no, what we do really matters … I hope men can come with their sons or their nephews, or sports teams. I just hope we get men in there. It’s not just a women’s conversation. It’s, in fact, the opposite.”
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Prima Facie is on at the Heath Ledger theatre, Perth from 1-21 July
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Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html