Jodie Comer Leaves ‘Prima Facie’ Broadway Performance After 10 Minutes, Says She ‘Can’t Breathe’ Due to NYC Air Crisis

Jodie Comer is getting rave reviews for her performance in the one-woman Broadway play Prima Facie, but her June 7 performance was cut short due to the air quality crisis in New York City.

Eyewitnesses say Comer told the audience she couldnt breathe because of the air and a stage manager helped her off stage about 10 minutes into the matine performance. The show resumed from the top shortly after with Comers understudy Dani Arlington taking over the role, a spokesperson for the play confirmed to Variety.

New York City is in its second day of terrible air quality as a result of Canadian wildfire smoke blowing in its direction. The city is bathed in a yellow hue, the air is difficult to breathe and smells like a burning campfire.

Prima Facie has been nominated for four Tony Awards, including one for Comers performance as a lawyer. In Varietys review, Trish Deitch praised Comer, who embodies every woman who has ever felt alone in the world.

Its moving when she sees her mother in the courtroom and feels suddenly supported by someone she previously looked down on, she wrote. Its moving when she thinks of her best friend, an actress with a job on a cruise ship, and feels proud. Its moving when she sees the one woman working in the court that daya female copput her hand on her mothers hand to comfort her. Thats the one still moment of the entire production: When Comer says one wordSisterthere isnt a dry eye in the house.