Inter Alia – Wyndham’s Theatre, London

Writer: Suzie Miller

Director: Justin Martin

Transferring from the National Theatre, Inter Alia tells the story of a Crown Court Judge, Jessica Parks (Rosamund Pike), who must balance the practical and ethical demands of home and professional life. Her marriage to an ego-bruised criminal defence barrister, her son’s forays into young manhood and the first blushes of sexual activity, and her commitment to bettering the experiences of vulnerable witnesses at court come to a head in a vast yet specific analysis clash of personal and political duties.

Suzie Miller’s text gushes forth with astonishing pace, at a speed that is fully embraced through Justin Martin’s direction. Pike is relentless in her performance, firmly spinning the emotional plates that the role demands, and expertly fights the frantically diverse yet immense sense of duty that Judge Jessica Parks is weighed down by.

In concert with this, Miriam Buether’s dynamic set movements reflect the rapid changes of tone that permeate the play as the audience is whisked from present experience to fleeting past memories of Judge Parks’ attempts to raise a good son.

Miller’s text rightly focuses on Judge Parks, and Pike is a tour de force. Even when she is inhabiting other judges and barristers with whom she converses, Pike manages to flesh out their differing emotional states in the blink of an eye between their lines and Judge Parks’. However, there are moments where Pike appears to be operating on a different plane of commitment than the rest of the cast. As Judge Parks’ husband, Jamie Glover humorously and sensitively plays Michael Wheatley’s failings as a father. Nevertheless, when the drama of the piece escalates, his responses lack fervour. Similarly, Cormac McAlinden as Judge Parks’ son Harry, falls short of the complexity of layers that are implied in Miller’s text.

Given the rapid state of change in gender politics between young men and women, Miller’s text manages to remain largely up to date. Nevertheless, there are important parts of the topics considered in Inter Alia that feel unexplored or too lightly considered in the play. That is not to say that the performance lacks urgency, but rather to say that it is still too contemporary to feel like a historical study of the societal problems it deliberates over, and too much a snapshot of a particular time to feel like its commentary is quite as gripping as when it was first staged.

Despite a few imperfections, Inter Alia is an exhilarating and relevant examination of law and morality, feminism and motherhood, and gender politics within the home and the courts of the land.

Runs until 20 June 2026