The internationally feted Australian playwright Suzie Miller built her reputation on the monodrama Prima Facie, a piercing play examining the places where law, morality and lived experience collide.

In Inter Alia, Miller again proves her command of both form and thematic territory in a taut, unsettling three-hander that interrogates power, privilege and the corrosive blind spots of the justice system.

This live capture, recorded during the play’s premiere season at the Lyttelton in London, does this excellent work full justice.

Rosamund Pike in Inter Alia. Photo courtesy National Theatre Live

The play follows a brilliant barrister, Jessica Parks, (Rosamund Pike) whose personal and professional lives unravel when her teenage son becomes entangled in the very structures she has spent her career upholding. Miller’s script incisively lays out the contradictions of a character torn between legal rationality and maternal instinct.

Director Justin Martin’s lean, purposeful staging keeps the three performers in near-constant motion. The production translates persuasively to the big screen, and Pike’s performance – her first stage appearance since playing Hedda Gabler in an Adrian Noble-directed production 15 years ago – is remarkable for its sustained energy and fluency.

Perhaps Australian audiences will get to see Inter Alia on stage in the next couple of years. In the meantime, this capture more than slakes the curiosity.

Inter Alia screens in Palace and Event cinemas nationally on 25 September.