Author The Old Vic
Published 11/05/2023
With Pygmalion playing on our stage from 06 Sep–28 Oct, here are five things you need to know about the show…
1. THE STORY
The play tells the story of cockney flower-seller Eliza Doolittle and linguist Professor Henry Higgins. After a chance meeting, Eliza finds herself the subject of a bet to pass her off as a lady amongst the great and good of London society.
2. THE CAST
Eliza Doolittle is played by Patsy Ferran, known for her award-winning roles in Summer and Smoke (Olivier Award for Best Actress) and A Streetcar Named Desire in the West End (Critics’ Circle Award for Best Actress).
Two-time Olivier Award-winning actor Bertie Carvel plays Henry Higgins. He is known for his roles in Ink and for originating the role of Miss Trunchbull in Matilda The Musical.
The duo return to The Old Vic stage following their roles in Camp Siegfried (Ferran), The 47th and The Hairy Ape (Carvel).
3. THE DIRECTOR
The new production is directed by Richard Jones, an Olivier Award-winning theatre and opera director who previously directed Endgame and The Hairy Ape at The Old Vic. His productions have been staged at theatres including Royal Court, National Theatre, Royal Opera House and Public Theatre, New York.
4. THE HISTORY
The play was written by George Bernard Shaw, a playwright, critic and political activist born in Dublin. He was one of the most well-known dramatists of the early 20th century, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925.
The play’s title comes from Greek mythology. In the classical text Metamorphoses by Ovid, Pygmalion is a sculptor who falls in love with a statue he has created, and the statue subsequently comes to life.
Pygmalion was first performed at the Holfburg Theatre in Vienna on 16 October 1913, and its English-Language premiere took place at His Majesty’s Theatre in the West End in April 1914.
5. THE ADAPTATIONS
My Fair Lady is perhaps the best known adaptation of the original play as it transformed the Pygmalion story into a stage and screen musical. However there have been many re-imaginings over the years; from television revivals like 1983’s Pygmalion starring Peter O’Toole and Margot Kidder, to teenage rom-com adaptations like 1999’s She’s All That.
George Bernard Shaw also wrote the screenplay for the 1938 film Pygmalion. Though he was rumoured to have had a strong dislike for Hollywood itself, he won an Academy Award for his screenplay and became the first person to be awarded both a Nobel Prize and an Oscar.