Prima Facie, ETC and the Canberra Theatre centre, Playhouse, Canberra Theatre

This is a taut tense masterwork looking at the pressing issue of sexual assault and how it is prosecuted through the vantage point of one female defence barrister, Tess, who herself becomes the victim of sexual assault. It represents the coming together of three remarkable women - writer Suzie Miller, director Lee Lewis and actor Sheridan Harbridge.

There's a careful drawing-you-in during the first half, as Tess celebrates her legal victories, her place in chambers, rising out of her rough working class family and not only surviving but thriving at the bar. And then, as it's shattered in a moment, we get a Tess torn between past and present as she approaches her day in court, over two years later, rebuilding a different, less naive woman who seeks justice for the wrongs done her, even as she knows how the system is stacked against her.

I expect there will be many other productions of Miller's script - it's a skillfully written one woman show with a simple design of one platform, one chair. But I think this production, with this actress and this director, will be hard to beat - Lee Lewis has become my favourite Australian director with her ability to cut through directly to the heart and sole of a script, to know its rhythms and hit exaclty the points this needs. I suspect some elements of this in lesser hands could easily become diadactic or "worthy" theatre, but there's a sure sense of character and rhythm here that means this is the story of an individual, not an abstract case study. Sheridan Harbridge wasn't the actress originally cast for this role, but it belongs to her utterly - she takes control of every moment, every pause, every breath, as she tells her story with truth and honesty, charting the journey of Tess second by second with clarity and strength.

This is theatre that takes confronting themes straight on with skill and care, brutal and honest and true. It should not be missed.