Lizzie Siddal (NHB Modern Plays) - Softcover

'does a great service in putting [this] little known story on stage' - Time Out 'peppered with laughs... [a] tale of art, idealism and romantic disillusion and disappointment' - The Arts Desk 'remarkable... makes important arguments about the subservience of women in art' - Londonist 'fascinating... [tackles] the still-relevant issue of how women's artistic achievements are often overshadowed by men's' - Evening Standard

A gripping historical drama charting one woman's dazzling trajectory from model to lover to artist, to a tragic figure in her own right. London, 1849. Lizzie is plucked from the obscurity of a bonnet shop to model for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood - an intoxicating group of young painters bent on revolutionising the Victorian art world. Inspired by their passion and ambition, she throws herself headlong into their lives and their art, nearly dying in the creation of Millais' famous work Ophelia. The painting is a triumph. But Lizzie wants more and dares to dream of being a painter herself. Falling for their charismatic leader Dante Gabriel Rossetti, she becomes his muse and his lover and, against the odds, succeeds in winning independence as a female artist. She even secures a sponsor - the great critic John Ruskin. But independence isn't always what it seems...Lizzie Siddal premiered at the Arcola Theatre, London, in November 2013.