Suzie Miller

Susan "Suzie" Miller (born ) is an Australian playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and lawyer. She has written over 40 plays, first coming to notice in 2008 for Reasonable Doubt, which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Her best-known play is Prima Facie, which was staged in a West End theatre in London starring Jodie Comer in April 2022, directed by fellow Australian Justin Martin. The production won two Olivier Awards, three years after a highly successful run in Sydney in 2019. It was also broadcast live to cinemas around the UK through NT Live, and later around the world. Her new play, Inter Alia, also directed by Martin, starring Rosamund Pike, opened in the National Theatre's Lyttleton Theatre on 10 July 2025. It is also set to be broadcast to cinemas through NT Live.

Early life and education Susan Miller was born in Melbourne, Australia, and she grew up in St Kilda, a suburb which housed many immigrants. She attended the local Catholic school, where many of the children were Italian, Greek, Mauritian, and Indian. starting in 1987,

At some point later, she lived in Beechmont, Queensland for around 18 months while undertaking a PhD at Queensland University of Technology, After that she worked for the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (and studied for her MA at UNSW), having to take a long break to recover from serious illness in 1995.

After getting married and while on maternity leave, Miller worked part-time at Shopfront Youth Legal Centre, a community legal centre funded by Freehills. Here she had to deal with a lot of crises and emergencies, as well as many sexual assault cases. She drew on these experiences when writing Cross Sections. During this time (2000) she was also studying at NIDA,

An early work, Reasonable Doubt, premiered at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the Assembly Rooms (Edinburgh) directed by Guy Masterson, starring Peter Phelps and Emma Jackson. and New York Fringe Festival at Cherry Lane Theatre, also in 2008, directed by Lee Lewis, where it won the New York Fringe Overall Excellence Award for Outstanding Playwriting. Miller had sent the play to many theatres in Australia at the same time, but none had chosen to mount a production of it. It runs for around 60 and at the Holden Street Theatres in 2022.

She has said that in general the UK and Europe are far more supportive of writers than Australia (although in some London theatre circles they see Australians as "racist and misogynistic" and "don't think Australia has a real arts culture or "based on first impression". The play first had an alternative title of On the Face of It.

Prima Facie is a one-woman play first staged by Griffin Theatre Company in Sydney in 2019, with Sheridan Harbridge taking the stage in a production directed by Lee Lewis. A production of the play by Empire Street Productions, in London's West End in 2022, It is also being adapted as a feature film, with actress Cynthia Erivo set to play the role of Tessa, to be directed by Susanna White. The play is being reworked for a New York production.

In July 2023, Jailbaby, "Prima Facie'''s spiritual successor" premiered at Griffin's Stables Theatre. Although Guardian reviewer Cassie Tongue gave it a middling review, the season sold out and the play returned in January 2024. The play's theme is the over-representation of Indigenous Australians in prison. Miller has indicated that it is the second of a trilogy of plays. Directed by Prima Facie director Justin Martin, it opened at The National Theatre 10 July 2025, , with global cinema release as part of NT Live. The play transferred to Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End in 2026. The title Inter Alia refers to the Latin legal phrase 'inter alia', meaning "among other things". Inter Alia is described as a kind of "double soliloquy", in which judge Jessica Parks delivers both her public and private thoughts. Its topic is again about women and consent, with parallels to the 2025 Netflix hit series Adolescence.

Other activities Miller is a member of PEN International, a human rights organisation representing writers in countries where they are punished for speaking out.

In early 2024, Miller attended the WOW Festival in Greece, appeared at two events at the Sydney Writers' Festival in May 2024, and presented at the Brisbane Writers Festival.

As of 2024 she was working with the Justice Reform Initiative, run by former Labor politician Robert Tickner, giving lectures to judges, barristers, and anyone interested in law reform. to develop the play SOLD with Cicely Berry of the Royal Shakespeare Company. All the Blood and All the Water won the Inscription/Theatrelab Script Development Award and was shortlisted for the 2006 Rodney Seaborn Award. It was staged at the Riverside Theatres Parramatta and Casula Powerhouse in Sydney in 2008. and Transparency was nominated for the 2010 Australian Writers' Guild Award in the Theatre: Stage category.

Miller's radio adaptation of Cross Sections won the AWGIE Award for Radio Adaptation in 2013. Dust (2014) won the Western Australian Premier's Book Award for Script in 2016.

The Griffin Theatre Company production of Prima Facie won the 2020 AWGIE Award for Drama and the 2020 Major AWGIE Award from the Australian Writers' Guild. For the 2022 production at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London, Miller won the 2023 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play and Jodie Comer won the Olivier Award for Best Actress for her performance. At the 2020 AWGIE Awards awarded by the Australian Writers' Guild, Prima Facie won the AWGIE Award for Stage, as well as the David Williamson Prize for Excellence in Writing for Australian Theatre.

Residencies and fellowships Miller had two residencies at the National Theatre in London, in 2011 and 2009, and at Griffin Theatre in Sydney in 2012. In the same year, the script of Prima Facie won the Griffin Award. and lawyers who have seen the play.

In 2024, the Suzie Miller Award was established by the Griffin Theatre Company, for mid-career playwrights.

Personal life While working at the Aboriginal Legal Service, Miller met and later married Robert Beech-Jones, with whom she had two children. He was also a lawyer, later becoming a justice performed at the Old Fitz in February 2007 directed by John Sheedy; later produced at Theatre503 in London (2011) directed by Natalie Ibu. 2008: All the Blood and All the Water, which tackled racism in Australia, premiered at the Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatres Parramatta, May 8–30, 2008, after mentoring by Edward Albee, also directed by John Sheedy. 2008: The Emotional Anatomy of a Relationship Breakdown – Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne 2010: Extra curricular then toured Australia with Critical Stages; 2024 production at New Theatre 2016: Snow White – The Opera, directed by Lindy Hume, had its premiere season at the Brisbane Festival in 2016. 2025: Inter Alia, premiered July 2025