THE EVERY-WOMAN

You probably know Bel Powley best in a comedy role. Storming the scene as an indie darling with Diary Of A Teenage Girl, her latest project comes full circle back to another famous diary – Anne Frank’s.

In A Small Light, Bel plays Miep Gies, the woman that hid the Franks and eventually would rescue the important diary. Still embed with her signature comedic flair, bringing out the normalcy and relatability in the historic drama, we spoke to Bel about the lessons learnt from such a vital role.

Full look **Prada**, locket **Slim Barrett**, tights **Falke**, shoes **John Lawrence Sullivan**

In a Small Light you play Miep Gies – how did you find preparing for a historic character rather than a fictional one?

It’s such an important part of history so you do feel a sense of responsibility. But I discovered my process is the same, whether it’s a real or a fictional person. Of course with a real person, there is more to draw from – there are so many movies about this part of history, and so many books; there's a plethora of material that I could have drawn. But the first thing I did was go to Amsterdam. The city really is a character in the show. Our showrunners gave me Miep’s cycle routes so I cycled her route to work or where she took Margot through the checkpoint. I’m also very lucky that she wrote an autobiography. You get a such a sense of her vivaciousness and cheekiness from reading that. I read it cover to cover several times.

But at the end of the day, even though it’s a true story we’re handed scripts and narritives. Once we started filming I kind of threw my research out and focussed on being present in the moment.

Left Full look **Miu Miu**, shoes **GH Bass**, necklace & earring **Slim Barrett**
Right Knit **Contemporary Wardrobe**, badges **Nathan Henry**, earrings **Slim Barrett**

Right Knit **Contemporary Wardrobe**, badges **Nathan Henry**, dress & shoes **Molly Goddard**, tights **Falke**, earrings **Slim Barrett**

I noticed the lack of accents in the show, I imagine that helped you focus more on the emotional performance?

Absolutely. And beyond even just the accents, one of the reasons that I wanted to be a part of this show was that they kind of threw out formal period language. So often with historical dramas the olden day speak can make you feel disconnected from it and as an actor it helps you connect so much better because you have freedom to improvise without worrying about accent and you don’t feel like its all in the past.

Dress **Stefan Cooke**, denim **Frame**, shoes **Gucci**, badge **Nathan Henry**, jewellery **Slim Barrett**

Jumper by **Christopher Kane**, skirt **Pariser**, earrings & pendant **Slim Barrett**

It definitely made it feel very present, serving as a reminder that these people were just like you and me…

Totally. That’s something we reminded ourselves of every day. Like yes, it was 1942 but it was modern times for these people. They were like times ‘I've got the newest washing machine, I'm wearing the newest fashions, I live in a really liberal country where there no way a crazy person like Hitler will ever be able to come into my country’. I think it was a really clever angle at a time when there are alarming parallels with what’s going on in our world today - like anti-Semitism is on the rise again, and there’s a ground war in Ukraine.

Full look **Prada**, locket **Slim Barrett**

What was the biggest thing you learnt from Miep?

When I read the script I was immediately thinking what would I do in this situation. She’s so relatable, she’s an every-woman, just a normal girl in her 20s falling in love, trying to find a job, you know. We haven’t put her on a pedestal or thought of her as this saintly hero you feel distanced from. And it’s the normalcy that was so important. It was her mantra; “Anyone, even an ordinary secretary, or housewife, or teenager can turn on a small light in a dark room.” And I think that's the message - you can be an everyday hero. She really believed it and maybe since doing this project, I do too.