Wildfire smoke halts Killing Eve star Jodie Comer’s Broadway show

Jodie Comer has had to put a temporary stop to her one-woman Broadway show, Prima Facie last night, June 7, in New York as she ran into breathing difficulties on stage. 

Only a few minutes into the show, which is currently being lauded with rave reviews, Comer was heard to cough and then announce to somebody off-stage that she couldn’t breathe the air.

The smoke which emanates from Canada’s wildfires is currently causing havoc as it begins to cover New York, and other performance and sports events have had to be postponed.

Variety wrote on Twitter: “Ten minutes into her “Prima Facie” matinée, Jodie Comer said she couldn’t breathe because of the New York City air, and a stage manager helped her off stage.”

Ten minutes into her “Prima Facie” matinée, Jodie Comer said she couldn’t breathe because of the New York City air, and a stage manager helped her off stage. https://t.co/NihVB8TWfM pic.twitter.com/YRY5wy5xpA

— Variety (@Variety) June 7, 2023

The solo stage show sees Liverpudlian Comer as a barrister defending women against sexual assault but who is then herself assaulted in the workplace and received high praise in Trish Deitch’s Variety Magazine review who said Comer: “embodies every woman who has ever felt alone in the world.”

She goes on to laud Ms Comer’s emotive performance saying: “It’s moving when she sees her mother in the courtroom and feels suddenly supported by someone she previously looked down on.”

“It’s moving when she thinks of her best friend, an actress with a job on a cruise ship, and feels proud. It’s moving when she sees the one woman working in the court that day—a female cop—put her hand on her mother’s hand to comfort her. That’s the one still moment of the entire production: When Comer says one word—”sister”—there isn’t a dry eye in the house.”

The New York sky has been turned orange with the smoke travelling down from Canada, as Peter Du on Twitter compares it to an incident in San Fransisco. It is also reminiscent of a few days last summer here in Elche where Saharan sands painted the skies a similar colour.

Peter Du says: “I have now had the dubious honour of experiencing both orange sky SF day (left), and orange sky NY day (right). Not pictured: Greenpoint or Manhattan because apparently Earth’s draw distance is now two feet.”

I have now had the dubious honor of experiencing both orange sky SF day (left), and orange sky NY day (right). Not pictured: Greenpoint or Manhattan because apparently Earth’s draw distance is now two feet. pic.twitter.com/BiiAZP20sg

— Peter Du (@PDU720) June 7, 2023