Miller play depicts Monroe's woes

Miller and Monroe had a tempestuous marriage

Marilyn Monroe's drink and drug problems feature in a new play written by her ex-husband Arthur Miller.

The play, Finishing the Picture, is reported to be loosely based around the film The Misfits, which was Monroe's last film.

She died only a year after it was finished, in 1962, at the age of 36, from a drugs overdose.

Monroe's character is never seen on stage in the play, but is constantly talked about by the other characters, it is reported.

She spends the play in a hotel room, addicted to tranquillisers. She also drinks heavily, and suffers a breakdown as her friends try to help her.

Obsession

Friends of the playwright - who has shied away from discussing his brief marriage to the iconic star recently - attended a reading of the play last week, according to the New York Post.

"Arthur wanted to see how it works in front of an audience," a friend attending the reading told the paper. "It's not a complete play yet. It really is just a draft."

Miller, 87, wrote a play about his ex-wife in 1964, called After the Fall. At the time it was said to be his way of dealing with his obsession with her.

Miller is best known for his classic plays The Crucible and Death of a Salesman.

The Misfits, in which Monroe co-starred alongside Clark Gable, was written by Miller.

The couple, who were married for five years, first met in the mid-1950s when Monroe was taking acting classes. She suffered two miscarriages during the marriage.