“It's different when you're in here.”
Why it's great
All the distance she used to keep collapses into the small word here.
Register
Neutral
Use it yourself
It's different when you're the one reading the complaint aloud.
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Tessa's Police Interview, Explained
National Theatre Live: Prima Facie · 2022
Chapter 13 of 22 · 5'03"
She is cold in an interview room, answering whether she knows him and whether last week was consensual. Under that checklist she is fighting the word victim. "I want to be a survivor, but..." every question about hands and bite marks drags her back into a body she has to inventory.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 0:25–1:08
❝ Monologue · 9 lines She Won't Wait to Report
43s - 2:19–3:05
Consented, But Only That Time
47s - 3:48–5:00
❝ Monologue · 8 lines Now You Need Us
72s
Tessa's Police Interview, explained
What happens
A defence barrister is led into a police interview room, cold, dressed from a spare room. She can wait for a woman officer but wants it over with. She names Julian Brookes, a colleague, says she consented last time, then faces questions about the assault, her phone, and a shower that may have washed the evidence away.
What's really going on
She knows rooms like this only from video, feet up in chambers, outraged at the tricks police play. In here she is cold and shivering. She wants a woman officer but will not get the big officer offside; told she can come back later, she still wants it over with. She answers "Yes. Yes, he is known to me." Of last week she says "Yes, I consented. That time." She wants to be a survivor, not a victim, then faces questions about hands, pushing him away and fighting back, and cannot look at the officer. She had a shower straight after and says she washed everything away, then that he would call it consensual sex. One line says to wait till he gets a defence barrister. She says Julian is one, and, small voice, that she is one too. She cannot tell if his look is smug or sympathetic. What she hears next is "Ah! Now you need us though, don't you?"
Key lines & what they mean
- “It's different when you're in here.”
- The interview room she only knew from video, feet up and outraged in chambers, is not the same once she is shivering inside it.
- “'Yes, I consented. That time.'”
- She is splitting off an earlier time she agreed to from the assault she has come to report. Consent then is not consent for this.
- “I don't want to be a victim, damaged. No. No. I want to be a survivor, but...”
- Right where she has to describe the rape, she rejects victim and damaged and reaches for survivor, and the but leaves that wish unfinished.
- “'He would just say... He would just say that it was consensual sex, won't he?'”
- In this line she answers herself: he will not deny the sex, he will say she agreed. It is her version of what he would say, not something he has said.
- “'Ah! Now you need us though, don't you?'”
- After she says, small voice, that she too is a defence barrister, and still cannot read his look, this line puts her on the side that needs them.
Theme
- Survival — She says she does not want to be a victim, damaged; she wants to be a survivor, right where she has to describe the rape.
- Justice — She limits consent to that time, will not give up her phone, then says a shower may leave little and he would call the sex consensual.
What this chapter teaches
Teaching points
Review right after watchingMy level2/8
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
Language points
Click a card to jump to its moment in the videoGolden lines
A great line in its own right — why and how to use it“'Yes, I consented. That time.'”
Why it's great
She grants the earlier yes, then slams a gate so it cannot cover this night.
Register
Formal
Use it yourself
I agreed to cover the late shift. That week.
“I don't want to be a victim, damaged. No. No. I want to be a survivor, but...”
Why it's great
She pushes damaged away out loud, and the but shows the sentence already slipping.
Register
literary
Use it yourself
I don't want to be the fragile one. I want to be back, but...
“'He would just say... He would just say that it was consensual sex, won't he?'”
Why it's great
Repeating the guess lets us hear her write his defence before he speaks.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
He would just say that the money was a gift, wouldn't he?
“'Ah! Now you need us though, don't you?'”
Why it's great
It sounds like an offer of help until though turns her own profession into the joke.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
Now you need the night shift though, don't you?
Monologue
One character carrying the scene — shadow the whole passage❝ The spectator sits down
I was led into an interview room. I've only ever seen video footage of rooms like this one – watching my client's interrogation with my feet up on the desk in chambers. All my sass and outrage at the tricks the police play. It's different when you're in here. I'm cold, shivering. Skirt, top, sandals. Dressed from the spare room. I want to ask for a woman, I need to, but I don't want to get the big officer offside.
She walks from feet-up spectatorship into a room so cold she cannot even ask for a woman officer.
❝ She drafts his defence
'It might not come up with much because I... 'I had a shower straight after.' Oh, my God! I am a... I am a fucking idiot! 'I've had a shower. I've washed everything away. I mean... 'What if he says we did not have sex? How can I prove...? No. 'No. He's not that stupid. He would have to admit to that fact, surely? 'He would just say... He would just say that it was consensual sex, won't he?'
The speech accelerates from a shower to the defence he has not spoken, and she is the one writing it.
Up next · 14in the hands ofThe scene: Tessa Agrees to TestifyPeople also search
Questions, then the linesWhy does she insist on getting it over with?
He tells her she can come back when the sexual assault unit is on, or when a woman is on duty. She says she wants to get it over with. The chance to wait is offered, and she does not take it.
Why doesn't she ask for a woman officer?
She wants to ask for a woman, and she says she needs to, but she does not want to get the big officer offside. The request stays unsaid. What she puts into words is the risk of turning him against her.
Why does she say he is known to her before she names him?
She answers, "Yes. Yes, he is known to me." The next line names him: "Julian Brookes." This line only records that she knows him. It does not say they work together; that comes after the name.
Why does she add "That time" once she has said she consented?
She says that last week they had sex, that it was at work, then that it was after hours, in his office. After that she says, "Yes, I consented. That time." The yes stays, and "that time" keeps it to that one occasion.