Synopsis

Possessed focuses on Jane Burden’s story: a girl from a deprived background, uprooted from the backstreets of Oxford and planted in the Bohemian world of the Pre-Raphaelite artists. She has learned to mask her humble birth perfectly in society. It is only to Bessy, the housekeeper, that she reveals the truth of her transformation.

Although married to Topsy (William Morris), mother of two little girls (Jenny and May) and mistress of a fine house, she has never been able to forget the powerful love she once felt for Gabriel (Dante Gabriel Rossetti), the artist who discovered her. When Gabriel’s wife Lizzie dies, Topsy suggests Jane poses for her old love once again. Sitting for Gabriel, a Pandora’s box of powerful emotions are let lose on all the characters in the musical. Jane, the muse, has to decide how to use her power over the people who love her.

Running parallel to the story of the artists Bessy, the Housekeeper and Mr Carter, the Foreman at Morris and Co. are unwittingly given the chance to live the ideal life that William Morris dreams of.

Throughout the musical the artists are working on a series of stained glass windows, telling the ancient story of Tristan and Isolde. As the windows are created the story of Jane and the artists plays out the old tale once again.