“'You said you removed your clothing yourself, is that right?'”
Por qué es buena
It hands her own words back as a settled fact and leaves almost no air for a denial.
Registro
Formal
Úsala tú
You said you closed the shop yourself, is that right?
00:00 / 04:20
00:00 / 04:20
Tessa Asks for the Police Station, Explained
National Theatre Live: Prima Facie · 2022
Capítulo 11 de 22 · 4'20"
In the cab she is only arguing for a ride to Euston, yet the fight is about a rule, a threat, and a face that changes. Underneath sits the line she cannot shake: "This is the legal truth, this is how the law tries to understand." Then she asks for the nearest police station.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 0:13–1:09
Questions in the Shower
56s - 1:30–2:04
❝ Monólogo · 10 frases Witness in her own court
The witness list turns private dread into the shape of a case she refuses.
33s - 2:29–3:14
The Fight at the Cab Rank
44s - 3:17–4:18
The Ask for a Police Station
62s
Tessa Asks for the Police Station, explained
What happens
Someone gets out of bed while Julian snores, vomits, scrubs her skin raw in the shower, and rehearses the questions a courtroom would ask. She leaves her own place in summer clothes, walks three hours in the rain, and gets into a cab for Euston and her mum. The driver refuses. She cites the cab rank rule, threatens to report him, then asks for the nearest police station.
What's really going on
In the shower she runs the questions herself. Sake, laughter, wine bottles, and "You said you removed your clothing yourself, is that right?" She puts on summer clothes from the spare room and cleans the living room she knows she should leave. She pictures Julian, his father's contacts, and Adam running the defence, then the witnesses she would face: Mia, an Uber driver, a gelato server, people who saw them laughing. She names that version in one line: "This is the legal truth, this is how the law tries to understand." She leaves and walks for three hours. The cab fight sounds like a fare. A rule about who gets to choose, and a threat to make sure he goes down, land on a driver who only wants airport work. Once he looks at her, it falls into "It is not fair!" and her mum's floral sofa. She calls it a losing case and asks for the police station.
Key lines & what they mean
- “'You said you removed your clothing yourself, is that right?'”
- A question she puts to herself in the shower: the claim that she took her own clothes off, treated as if it answers what happened.
- “Let him take everything away from me? Become a witness in my own courtroom?”
- The cost she is turning over: he would take the career she built, and she would stand as a witness in the courtroom she thinks of as hers.
- “This is the legal truth, this is how the law tries to understand.”
- Her name for the version a court would keep: not the night as she lived it, but what those questions about bills, laughter, and clothes can prove.
- “I want to wrap myself up against her on the old floral sofa.”
- In the cab, after the fight, the place she wants is her mother's old floral sofa, pressed against her, not another argument.
- “'I will report you and I will make sure that you go down.'”
- Her threat when the driver will not take her to Euston: she will report him for breaking the cab rank rule and see that he is finished.
Theme
- Justice — She names the legal truth those questions would build, calls the matter a losing case, and still asks for the nearest police station.
- Courage — She threatens the driver, says she does not know where to go, and then asks for the police station.
Qué aprendes en este capítulo
Puntos de enseñanza
Repasa justo después de verMi nivel1/8
A1–C2 es la escala MCER. Las tarjetas por encima del nivel elegido se atenúan y la reproducción no se pausa en ellas.
Puntos de lengua
Toca una tarjeta para saltar a ese momentoFrases de oro
Una gran frase en sí misma: por qué y cómo usarla“Let him take everything away from me? Become a witness in my own courtroom?”
Por qué es buena
The two questions put her work and her own place on the same scale of loss.
Registro
literary
Úsala tú
Let them take the clients away from me? Become a guest in my own firm?
“This is the legal truth, this is how the law tries to understand.”
Por qué es buena
The repeated this is draws a line between a fileable story and a human one, and tries shows the law may fail.
Registro
literary
Úsala tú
This is the audit's truth, this is how a spreadsheet tries to understand a marriage.
“I want to wrap myself up against her on the old floral sofa.”
Por qué es buena
The wish makes her small again, and the floral sofa keeps it too specific to be vague comfort.
Registro
literary
Úsala tú
Dad let me wrap myself up against him in the kitchen chair until the fever dropped.
“'I will report you and I will make sure that you go down.'”
Por qué es buena
Two calm I will sentences turn a complaint into a threat of real ruin.
Registro
Informal
Úsala tú
I will report the refusal and I will make sure the office pulls his licence.
Monólogo
Un personaje sostiene la escena: practícalo entero❝ Witness in her own court
I see me, I see my life, the one I have built, my career. My career. What do I do now? Because, here I am. What do I do now? Let him take everything away from me? Become a witness in my own courtroom? With Jules, Julian, and all his dad's contacts. Running his defence by Adam, brilliant Adam. Calling witnesses. Mia, Alice, Uber driver, waiter at the restaurant. People who saw us laughing, gelato server, off-licence guy. No. Nope.
The witness list turns private dread into the shape of a case she refuses.
Siguiente · 12no armourLa escena: Tessa Enters Court Without ArmourPreguntas frecuentes
La pregunta, luego la fraseWhy does she clean the living room?
She cleans it even though she knows she should leave it, in case. In the same stretch she wants to hit rewind, finds him still in her bed, and asks what happens to the life and career she has built. The lines leave the tidying and the doubt side by side.
Why does she threaten the cab driver?
She got in to reach Euston and the train to her mum. He says he is only doing airport rides and did not wait an hour for that ride. She tells him a cab at a rank goes where the ride goes, that he can get suspended, and that she will report him and make sure he goes down.
Why does the driver's manner change?
He tells her to get out and says he will call the police. She says that is not fair. He turns around, his face takes her in, and it changes. She says again that it is not fair, thinks of her mum, and he hands her a tissue. In the mirror his eyes are kind eyes now. The lines show the look. They do not give his reason.
Why ask for a police station after calling it a losing case?
She says she does not know where to go, looks at the car clock, and legal instinct tells her this is a losing case. She still asks the driver: "Can you take me to the nearest police station, please?" Nothing here says she thinks she will win.