Drama - The Angel and the Fiend

April marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lee Miller, the American surrealist photographer who ended her days in Farley Farm, in Chiddingly. To celebrate it her son Antony Penrose is reviving a dramatic work he has written, originally performed in Los Angeles in 2003, called ‘The Angel and the Fiend’.The show is to be performed in several venues in London in September as a sidepiece to the important exhibition of Miller’s work at the V&A 'The Art of Lee Miller'. We are delighted to announce that Viva Lewes is putting the event on for one night only in Lewes on April 13th. ‘The Angel and the Fiend’ (the title reflects Miller’s volatile personality) features over 360 of Miller’s photos from throughout her career, projected onto a large screen. Either side of the screen stand five actors, portraying Miller and figures important to her life. The actors recite passages written by the figures they represent, which are relevant to the constantly changing array of images projected behind them.

The director of the piece is the Chiddingly-based actor David Burroughs, who knew Miller and her husband Roland Penrose as a child, and is performing the part of the latter in the play. “Tony knew next to nothing about his mother,” he says. “She didn’t have much to do with him, and he was brought up by a nanny. He had no idea how important she had been in her prime, until he discovered boxes full of letters and photographs, from and of the likes of Man Ray and Picasso. This led him on a voyage of discovery, and the play in many ways represents that voyage.”