The

Muse

Staged at Leighton House Museum,

a multi-media play exploring the

relationship between Lord Leighton, PRA,

and his model, Dorothy Dene, inspiration

for his masterpiece Flaming June .

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A Palimpsest production

www.palimpsest.co

www.leightonhouse.co.uk

Not Suitable for under 14s

Tickets available at www.EventBrite.co.ukFr

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Beauty.

Nudity.

Ambition .

The rise and fall of Fame.

Lord Leighton

1830-1896

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Was Dorothy the model

for Shaw’s Pygmalion?

“ ...the story of Eliza Doolittle,

though called a romance because

the transfiguration it records

seems exceedingly improbable,

is probable enough. Such

transfigurations have been

achieved by hundreds of resolutely

ambitious young women...I draw my

characters from life, as I see them...”

George Bernard Shaw,

Preface to Pygmalion 1912

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Who Was Dorothy Dene?

(Born Ada Alice Pullan) 1859- 1899;

The

Muse

Follow Ada Alice Pullan

@DorothyDene1 on Twitter.

Explore the evidence in the

form of an online scrap box

at www.the-muse.co.uk

“I was late for Miss Dorothy Dene’s

Juliet. This I greatly regretted.

Miss Dene was a young actress who

had not the painted show of beauty

which was so common on the stage,

and so useless, but that honest

reality of it which is so useful

to painters. Her speech showed

unusual signs of thoughtful

calculation. She had a plastic

grace, she took herself and her

profession seriously, and her

appearances in leading roles were

not unpopular. The mystery is,

what became of her? Did the studio

instantly reclaim its adored

model? Did she fall into the abyss

of opulent matrimony? Did she

demand impossible terms? Or were

the managers obdurate in their

belief that there is only one safe

sort of actress- the woman who is

all susceptibility and no brains?”

PRESENTS

Actress?Model?

Muse?Protege?

Confidante?Consort?

George Bernard Shaw,

Our Theatre in the Nineties, 1932

Frederic Leighton

was made president

of The Royal Academy

and knighted in

1878; the year before

he met 20 year old

Ada Pullan.

New letters discovered

in 2015 suggest that

this poor girl from

New Cross, who

changed her name

to Dorothy Dene and

rose to be one of the

most feted actress/

models of the late

Victorian Era,

was ultimately

Leighton’s partner.

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Beauty. Nudity. Ambition.

The rise and fall of Fame.

The

Muse

22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 27th, 29th

and 30th March 2017

Doors at 7:15pm for drinks soiree

Play begins at 7:45pm

Due to the nature of the play please note

that late comers will not be admitted.

Not suitable for under 14 yr olds.

Leighton House Museum

12 Holland Park Rd , London, W14 8LZ

www.leightonhouse.co.uk

www.palimpsest.co

Following a sell-out run of ‘The Muse’

at Leighton House Museum in 2015,

Palimpsest return with a strictly

limited run for March 2017.

Exploring the relationship

between Lord Leighton and his

model, muse and confidante,

Dorothy Dene, The Muse fuses

theatre, film and online

elements at www.the-muse.co.uk.

Reviewed as ‘Beautiful and

Haunting’ and ‘Much more than a

mere play’ by The British Theatre

Guide, the evening begins with a

drinks soirée ranging through

the glorious salons of Leighton’s

palace of art and culminates

in the artist’s studio where

Dorothy posed nude in 1886.

The play features an original

piano score performed by

composer John Chambers.

The ticket price includes the

opportunity to view Flaming

June, after the performance.

PRESENTS

Leighton House Museum is the former

studio house of Frederic Leighton

(1830-1896). The centrepiece is the

extraordinary Arab Hall, featuring

16th and 17th Islamic tiles, mosaic

floors and a calming fountain.

Also Leighton’s painting studio, with

its large north-facing window,where

he created the iconic Flaming June.