Killing Eve star Jodie Comer claims Broadway as her own in her tour de force performance of Prima Facie, a scalding indictment of the law and its limits opening tonight at the Golden Theatre.

Comer plays Tessa, a young, working class Liverpool woman who has become one of London’s most promising defense lawyers through sheer intelligence and needle-sharp courtroom instincts. Her specialty – perhaps, or perhaps not, foisted upon her by the cynical male superiors who run things in ways Tessa only slowly comprehends – is the defense of men charged with sexual assault.

Tessa’s outwardly compassionate, woman-to-woman cross-examinations of assault victims are no less effective for their sympathetic overtones, perhaps more so. Her probing questions and geiger-counter instincts for finding the hidden bombs that will blow a victim’s story to smithereens make Tessa an invaluable force in the courtroom.

Comer

Throughout the early portion of the play, Comer...