- Jodie Comer wins a Tony Award for her performance in Prima Facie.
- The play highlights flaws in sexual assault laws from a defense attorney’s perspective.
- The ceremony featured unscripted moments due to the Hollywood writers’ strike.
It was “surreal” for the Killing Eve heroine to win a Tony Award for her performance in the explosive one-woman play Prima Facie.
The Tony Award for best leading actress went to Jodie Comer for her performance in the one-woman play Prima Facie.
Following her West End debut in the same character, she made her Broadway debut in the role.
As the highest-grossing event cinema release in the UK and Ireland, the live cinema version of the performance – part of the National Theatre Live series – broke records.
Comer called her Tony triumph “surreal” following a run where she “just put one foot in front of the other.”
She was compelled to stop a performance last week due to breathing difficulties caused by air pollution from Canadian wildfires.
The play examines the inadequacy of sexual assault laws from the perspective of a defense attorney in the witness box.
Regarding her character Tessa, Comer stated, “This woman in this play has been my greatest instructor. And I must thank Suzie Miller, the author of this magnificent work, for that.”
“Without her writing that, [I] would not be here, so this feels just as much Suzie’s as it does mine.”
The actress thanked the production team and apologised to friends and family for being “absent” for a year.
“To everyone who feels represented by Tessa, this has been my greatest honor,” she said, adding swiftly, “and it continues to be – there are still three weeks left!”
The award was presented during an unscripted performance as a result of the ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike.
After advising the audience that the show would be entirely unscripted, the host of the show, Ariana DeBose, warned the audience to “buckle up” before the show began.
Previously, the strike involving more than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) threatened to derail the program.
The WGA waived its picketing rights and allowed CBS to air the programme.
Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee made history by becoming the first non-binary actors to be honored at the awards ceremony.
Sean Hayes and Victoria Clark won for their musicals Kimberly Akimbo and Good Night, Oscar.
Kimberly Akimbo was awarded the title of best musical, while Leopoldstadt received the award for best play.
