National Theatre Live: Inter Alia

Yesterday afternoon I was really excited to see a screening of the National Theatre Live production of Inter Alia, filmed live earlier this year at the Lyttelton Theatre in London, which was presented by the Tanner Humanities Center and Salt Lake Film Society.  This new play by the team responsible for the smash hit Prima Facie is absolutely brilliant and I was blown away by Rosamund Pike's powerful performance.  Jessica Parks (Pike) is a ground-breaking Crown Court Judge as well as a wife to Michael Wheatley (Jamie Glover) and mother to eighteen-year-old Harry (Jasper Talbot).  While she is a rock star in the courtroom (she is even backed by a band who performs live on stage during the courtroom scenes) who is known for refusing to back down to the misogynistic barristers who appear before her and for her tough stance on the perpetrators of sexual violence, she frequently feels compelled to downplay her accomplishments to soothe the ego of her husband, who is a less successful barrister, and defers to him in matters relating to their son because he is a man and she thinks that he can relate to what Harry is experiencing more than she can.  She shoulders most of the responsibilities for running the household (there is an incredible scene in which she frantically prepares for a dinner party as Michael and Harry make demands of her) and often feels guilty about her perceived failures as a mother.  Her professional and personal worlds collide when Harry is accused of rape at a party and her role as a judge who advocates for the rights of victims is at odds with her role as a mother who wants to save her son.  Pike is in constant motion, moving between a platform upstage, which represents her courtroom, an elaborate set center stage, which represents her home, and a large screen downstage, which depicts flashbacks with Harry as a child, as she juggles all of Jessica's many responsibilities (inter alia is a legal term which means "among other things"), and she deftly manages multiple costume changes on stage and a myriad of props.  She also effectively portrays many competing emotions, from a hilarious scene singing karaoke (of course she sings "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!") to a devastating one in which she confronts her husband for not stepping up and helping their son navigate the toxic masculinity on the so-called manosphere.  Both Glover and Talbot are also outstanding and I was especially moved by Talbot's final scene with Pike because it is so emotional.  I loved this because, in addition to clever staging and memorable performances, it is incredibly thought-provoking, particularly the difference between the moral definition of guilt and the legal one, and I know that I will be thinking about it for a long time to come.  The next National Theatre Live productions at the Broadway are Mrs. Warren's Profession on November 8, The Fifth Step on February 21, Hamlet on March 21, and Life of Pi on April 11 (I so excited for this!).