It's not often that members of the public are offered the chance to see a work in progress at the Oxford Playhouse, especially when it's a musical. At 6pm on Sunday, playwright Teresa Howard aims to rectify this by staging a 75-minute workshop performance of Possessed, which tells the story of the beautiful Jane Morris, the 19th-century woman who inspired both William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Teresa believes that Oxford is the perfect place for Jane's story to be told for the first time, as she was born in the city and lived in a cramped tenement in St Helen's Passage, one of Holywell's most poverty stricken areas in Victorian times.

Jane met William Morris and Rosetti in Oxford while they were painting murals for the Oxford Union. At Rosetti's invitation she posed for them in their George Street lodgings and went on to marry William Morris at St Michael's Church, Oxford, in 1859.

As Teresa began researching Jane's life, it soon became clear to her that she was no ordinary girl. Her extensive research revealed that the image of Jane that we get by reading writers such as Henry James, who described her as "strange, pale, livid, gaunt and silent", was not giving us the true Jane.

Jane's story became a musical rather than a straight play because of the heightened emotion in the story. Teresa says that her play needed music and the characters needed to sing about what they felt. To this end, she has collaborated with composer Steven Edis, who is best known for his work at the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company. She has chosen the talented Helen Eastman as her director and multimedia designer Peter Dunphy is producing the projected images. The part of Jane will be played by Anna Francolini and Joseph Millson will portray Rossetti.

Possessed has already had a 35-minute showcase at Greenwich Theatre, but that was two years ago. It has come a long way since then.

For tickets to watch this remarkable new show in its early stages of development, ring the Oxford Playhouse on 01865 305305.