Australian playwright wins prestigious theatre award

Australian playwright Suzie Miller has won a prestigious Olivier award at a ceremony celebrating the best of London's West End.

Prima Facie took out best new play and Jodie Comer won best actress for her performance in the one-woman show, which was also nominated for three other gongs.

It tells the story of a criminal defence lawyer who finds herself on the other side of a courtroom after being assaulted.

The Australian production has just completed a sold-out run in Melbourne and the play will make its Broadway debut later this month.

Ms Miller said she starting writing it in a "passionate frenzy" in her garage but never expected it to one day be adapted in 30 different countries.

"There's a real need for people to lean into women's lived experience and stories about how they perceive the world, which is a huge breakthrough," Ms Miller told AAP in February.

"I've been in this industry for a very long time and there were times that no one was even interested, to be honest.

"So it's a great leap in terms of seeing a change in what audiences want and what theatres want."

The former lawyer said thousands of survivors had reached out to her after seeing the production and told her they felt empowered to share their stories.

"(They said) I knew it would trigger me, but when I came out, I felt like I was going to tell my mother about it or I was going to go to the police," Ms Miller said.

The show also sparked legal change in the UK, after a senior judge in the audience was inspired to adjust directions read out to juries about consent in sex assault cases.