How Now Brown Cow Presents
The South African Premiere
PRIMA FACIE
SEASONS
The Baxter Studio
4 to 29 August 2026
The Market Theatre
(In Association with The Market Theatre)
16 September to 4 October 2026
How Now Brown Cow also proudly presents the South African premiere of Suzie Miller’s award-winning Prima Facie directed by celebrated theatre maker Neil Coppen (Isidlamlilo/TheFire Eater; Animal Farm; Tin Bucket Drum). Danica De La Rey Jones (Hunting Jessica Brok; Unseen; For Colored Girls) performs the role of Tessa, a brilliant young barrister, who climbs her way up from working class origins to the top of her game: defending, cross examining and winning.
Tessa believes in the legal system until a brutal attack turns her world upside down as she navigates the same system she once championed. Now put on trial herself, re-traumatized through her cross-examination, she finds herself questioning everything she believed about justice.
Prima Facie is a hard-hitting look at the "patriarchal power of the law" where the burden of proof and existing rules of evidence often work against victims of sexual violence.
The 2022 London production of the show was nominated for five Laurence Olivier Awards, with wins for Best New Play and Best Actress for Jodie Comer, who subsequently won a Tony Award for the same role on Broadway in New York.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Tessa
CAST
Danica De La Rey Jones
PRODUCTION TEAM
Director & Production Design
Neil Coppen
Set Construction
Patrick Curtis and The Baxter Theatre
Lighting Design
Costume Design
Tina Le Roux
Noluthando “TEXTURE” Lobese
Rehearsal & Production Content
Quaid Jones
Stage Manager (CPT)
Stage Manager (JHB)
Social Media Manager
Social Media Campaign
Purple Hat
Alyssa van der Schyff
Natalie Fraser
Erin Hrustinszky
Publicity (CPT)
Publicity (JHB)
Christine Skinner
CoLab Network (Collett Dawson)
Produced by HOW NOW BROWN COW
Special thanks to The Baxter Theatre and The Market Theatre for their support and hospitality, as well as Nerine Pienaar for her assistance with Wardrobe.
In The Rehearsal Room
“Something has to change.”
— Tessa (Prima Facie)
The Cast
Danica De La Rey Jones
Tessa
Danica de la Rey Jones is a magnetic force in the South African film industry, rapidly becoming one of the country’s most bankable international exports. A rare "natural" talent with over a decade of industry experience, Danica has built a career defined by high-stakes performances and an unflinching emotional range.
Her transition from arthouse darling to commercial powerhouse was cemented with her lead role in the action feature Hunting Jessica Brok. Performing her own grueling fight choreography with only two weeks of prep, Danica proved herself as a high-octane physical performer. The film’s success, securing a 100-cinema North American release alongside UK and European distribution, highlights her cross-continental appeal and ability to carry a major commercial franchise.
Whether she is commanding the screen as the complex villain "TK" in Netflix’s Unseen (Season 2) or captivating audiences on stage in James Ngcobo’s For Colored Girls, Danica’s presence is undeniable. From her raw debut in the festival-favorite Aya to her current status as a leading action star, she remains a fearless, versatile artist who delivers both critical acclaim and global commercial viability.
The Team
Neil Coppen
Director & Production Design
Neil Coppen is a renowned and prolific storyteller and theatre-maker hailing from Kwa-Zulu Natal . Coppen has won several major awards for his writing, design and direction work including Standard Bank Ovation Awards, Naledi’s, Fiesta and Kanna Awards, the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Drama 2011 and the 2019 Olive Schreiner Prize for Drama.
Some of Coppen’s most acclaimed theatre works (taught in schools and universities locally and internationally) include Tin Bucket Drum (Published by Wits University Press), Tree Boy, Abnormal Loads (published by Junkets) and NewFoundLand (published by Junkets) and his adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm toured South Africa for over five-years to sold out seasons. He also directed an acclaimed online reimagining of Hamlet in 2023.
In 2014 Coppen co-founded the multi award-winning research based theatre company Empatheatre alongside Mpume Mthombeni and Dylan Mcgarry and has worked consistently as the companies head dramaturg and director on the productions Soil & Ash, Ulwembu, The Last Country , Boxes, Lalela Ulwandle, Umkhosi Wenala and Unruly starring Andrew Buckland.
In 2022 Coppen alongside visual artist Vaughn Sadie and in collaboration with a community of Oudtshoorn based arts practitioners founded The Karoo Kaarte project (supported by the KKNK). Karoo Kaarte is a large-scale public participative storytelling and archiving project whose theatre productions Op Hierie Dag (2022) Droomkraan Kronieke (2023), Die Swartmerrie (2024) and Kroon en Konfetti (2025) have won several Kanna and Fiesta awards.
Coppen recently co-wrote and directed Empatheatre’s hit play Isidlamlilo/The Fire Eater which premiered at NAF 2022 and is currently touring both locally and internationally. He is currently a research associate at the University of Johannesburg.
Tina Le Roux
Lighting Designer
Tina le Roux is an awardwinning South African lighting designer who has collaborated extensively with playwright, director, and designer Neil Coppen. Their longstanding creative partnership includes Abnormal Loads (for which she won a Naledi and a Durban Theatre Award), Animal Farm, Isidlamlilo / The Fire Eater, and most recently Isitha Sabantu — works recognised for their strong visual language and physical storytelling.
Tina’s lighting design for Isidlamlilo earned her the Naledi Award, Kanna Award, and Woordfees Award for Best Lighting Design. Her work is characterised by clarity, sensitivity, and a deep responsiveness to performers and space.
She has also worked extensively with Empatheatre — most recently designing the lighting for Unruly at the Baxter Theatre and Isitha Sabantu at the Market Theatre — and has designed widely for KickstArt Theatre.
She is especially excited to be designing Prima Facie for How Now Brown Cow Productions in August 2026, further expanding her repertoire of visually striking and emotionally resonant productions.
Tina currently works as Production Manager at the University of KwaZuluNatal's Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre.
Noluthando ‘TEXTURE’ Lobese
Costume Designer
Noluthando ‘TEXTURE’ Lobese is a Multi Award - Winning Designer in Theatre and Television.
She represents one of the earliest, most defining post - apartheid triumphs for Black women in Theatre. She won her breakthrough Naledi Theatre Award for Best Costume Design in 2009. She combines photography and video as part of her research to recreate and re imagine worlds.
She recently designed Costumes for Rise ’76 at Baxter Theatre and The Market Theatre 2026. She also designed Set for The Piano Lesson production by August Wilson at The Joburg Theatre directed by James Ngcobo.2025. She has worked on Shaka ILembe as an Art Director for S 2 + S 3. She was also a set designer for ‘The VISITORS’ directed by Constanza Macras (Berlin) at The Market Theatre 2023 which toured Europe. She designed re-enactments on the KALAWA JAZMEE documentary and also designed costumes on The Fences production by August Wilson at The Joburg Theatre 2023
Best Art Direction Nominee,6th Annual Royalty Soapie Awards 2023.The BlackDoor.
She has also worked as a Production Designer on a Feature Film called ‘DISCONNECT 2 ‘ in Kenya,2022.
Best Achievement in Art Direction,South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS) 2022. DiepCity.
She has also designed costumes for an Opera in Konzert Theatre, Bern, Switzerland, 2020. (Due to Covid it was not staged). She has acted as a judge for the South African Film and Television Awards for Production Design in Feature Films. She continues to collaborate with the premiere talents in the Arts ,Theatre, Film and Photography. As an installation artist she was accepted at the MacDowell Colony (NH) in New York. The work she developed here “What It Is” continued as an Installation piece at Studio X,Johannesburg (GSAPP Columbia University).
Noluthando also worked on the Floating Stage (Bergenz Festspielehaus,Austria,2013) as a design intern. She was an observer at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival (Cooperstown) New York. Shakespeare theatre in Chicago 2013. In 2012 She was a designer in Salzburg,Austria at the Young Directors Festival as a production designer. She was introduced into the world of Theatre by her Mentor, Nadya Cohen (award winning designer).
Noluthando has studied in Stockholm Stadsteatern, Sweden,as a design apprentice under the mentorship of Charlie Koroly. 2008. Most of her theatre work has been staged in different countries such as Germany,Austria,Ghana,Kenya,The Unites States, Sweden, Amsterdam,and London.