Review: INTER ALIA, Starring Rosamund Pike

How do you follow up a blistering international success such as Prima Facie? Former lawyer-turned-playwright Suzie Miller now reunites with director Justin Martin for Inter Alia, which will surely create just as much impact. 

As part of former National Theatre Director Rufus Norris’ final season, Miller again tackles the subject of sexual abuse, rape convictions and the law. However, the angle is now fixed on parental responsibility, online porn and how we bring up teenage boys in today's world.

Inter Alia follows High Court Judge Jessica, played by Rosamund Pike, who presides over sexual assault cases at work and makes sure she has the chats about consensual sex with her teenage son at home. All while ironing shirts and making sure there is milk in the fridge. When her beloved son is accused of rape, her world implodes as her professional and personal life collide.

Pike is a wonderful whirl of energy and emotion throughout, deftly portraying the professional and the deeply personal. She is a wife, a mother, a friend and says more than once that she feels guilty about not being good enough at everything. Pike commands the stage throughout, deftly bringing the audience into her most intimate thoughts and feelings. I predict several awards nominations coming her way.

Inter Alia means “among other things", referencing how many women juggle a myriad of responsibilties in their daily lives. The play asks questions about who carries what in parental responsibility and what are the consquences of those actions.

The character of Jessica is so complex and developed that consquentially the male characters are less rounded. Pike's husband Michael is amiable, but also seems to carry deeply sexist views about his wife's promotion to the bench. Jamie Glover brings impact to the small role, raising the question of how fathers can parent their children in a world they do not understand, but we do not get any deeper into his thoughts.

Jasper Talbot gives a very nuanced performance as son Harry, a slightly awkward young man on the cusp of his adult life who conducts another life totally unknown to his parents.

Martin directs with non-stop action. Jessica flies around her kitchen, workplace and the children's playground where she reenacts chidlhood memories of her son. It can feel a little breathless at points, but it is an accurate physical reflection of the unrelenting thoughts going through Jessica's mind. Miriam Buether's cleverly developed set and Natasha Chivers' lighting takes us seamlessly to the courtroom, playground and family kitchen with ease.

Written before Jack Thorne's Adolescence, Inter Alia certainly has parallels with the show, but concentrates more on a mother's growing realisation that she may not know her child at all. It also raises some brutal questions about parental choices and the fine line between legality and morality. This is a middle class, privileged world where both parents are high functioning professionals, but it manages to speak to society as a whole too. Are there many mothers who do not feel guilt? Many fathers who feel they cannot relate to their children's experiences of the world? And how many teenagers feel the pressure as their online lives seep into reality?

It is not a perfect play, but Pike's performance elevates this to something special. Thought-provoking and slightly terrifying, Miller has again created something that we should all be talking about.

Inter Alia is at The National Theatre until 13 September and will also be available to watch in cinemas across the country and globe from 4 September with National Theatre Live.