The leading actress in a play category this year was a face-off of extremes: Jodie Comer, who delivers a physically and emotionally exhausting performance in Suzie Miller’s one-woman legal thriller “Prima Facie,” versus Jessica Chastain, who scarcely stirs from her chair during the entirety of “A Doll’s House.”
In the end, it was Comer who triumphed, for her tour-de-force solo turn as a lawyer who defends men accused of sexual assault. Jesse Green, the chief theater critic for The New York Times, described it as “a performance of tremendous skill and improbable stamina.”
It was a remarkable win for the 30-year-old English actress, who is best known for playing the assassin Villanelle on the television show “Killing Eve.” She not only took home her first Tony Award on her first try; she won it for her first performance on a professional stage — ever.
“It kind of felt unattainable,” she told The Times in April of the prospect of doing theater.
On Sunday night, Comer thanked Suzie Miller, the writer of “Prima Facie,” which won many awards in Australia and Britain. “This woman and this play has been my greatest teacher, and I have to thank Suzie Miller for that, who wrote this magnificent piece,” she said. “Without her, my performance would not be here, so this feels just as much Suzie’s as it is mine.”
Comer, who previously won an Olivier Award — London’s equivalent of the Tony Awards — for playing the role in the West End, may be a newcomer to the stage, but she is no stranger to acting. In addition to “Killing Eve,” she is also known for recent roles in the action comedy “Free Guy,” the action drama “The Last Duel” and the crusading BBC film “Help.”
In addition to Chastain, Comer also topped Jessica Hecht (“Summer, 1976”) and Audra McDonald (“Ohio State Murders”) — who has won more Tonys than any other performer and had been nominated for a record-tying 10th time.
Source: Theater - nytimes.com
