Writer: Millie Small
Director: Martha Bone
The relationship between art and the artist, and between an artist and their inspiration, is a complex one, full of messy humanity, control and different kinds of perception as various kinds of talent interact. Millie Small’s new play Muse, showing at the Hen & Chickens Theatre as part of the Camden Fringe Festival 2026, looks at the ways in which an artist and his model create a “story” together, her face combined with his name to create something that doesn’t quite represent either of them. Running at just 40 minutes, this smartly written taster could be expanded into an even more complex piece.
With a meet-cute in front of a painting, Lily(Small) accidentally hits Lucas (Xavier Atkins) in the nose, and a new connection is formed. Evidently attracted to her, Lucas quickly asks her to model for him, sitting for a competition piece that will help restore his reputation following a controversy a couple of years before. But as Lucas’ agitation about the success of the work increases, he pushes Lily to uncomfortable extremes to get what he wants.
Small has a real feel for immersive writing and easy conversations between her characters, so even when they’re doing little beyond getting to know each other, the dialogue is both relatable and engaging. And it certainly helps to build character in ways that are useful later in the story as the audience learns about some of Lily’s past relationship trauma, her fears and needs, while Lucas’ fixation on winning the competition and producing true art sets the scene nicely for what follows.
It feels like Muse has more things it can say, perhaps revealing the substance of the controversy that almost ended the artist’s career and how this feeds into what he is doing now, as well as sharpening up or clarifying the purpose of segments in which Millie talks to the audience or to an interviewer seemingly in the aftermath. When is this? Why is she speaking about Lucas, and is this the frame for the show as she uses Lucas as her own Muse?
In such a short piece, both the turning point and the payoff happen too quickly, and Muse would benefit from Lily and Lucas spending a little more time together as he starts to push boundaries. This currently happens across two scenes but could be even more subtle over a longer time, a gesture or disagreement here or there that contravenes her wishes – incidents that Lily shrugs off at first – building slowly as his coercive behaviour intensifies as the painting forms.
The same is then true of the table-turning moment. It’s an interesting way to end the play, but it feels too incomplete, as though Lucas and Lily haven’t quite finished with one another or with their collaborative story just yet.
Runs until 9 August 2026
Camden Fringe 2026 runs until 30 August
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