Author Elizabeth Charlesworth
Published 12/04/2023
Bertie Carvel (The 47th, The Crown) and Patsy Ferran (A Streetcar Named Desire, Camp Siegfried) will star in George Bernard Shaw‘s iconic Pygmalion, in this new production directed by Richard Jones (Endgame, The Hairy Ape) which will play for a limited run from 06 Sep–28 Oct – uniting all three Olivier Award-winners on The Old Vic stage.
Patsy Ferran
Patsy returns to The Old Vic after her spine-tingling performance alongside Luke Thallon in Bess Wohl‘s Camp Siegfried. She will take on one of theatre’s most beloved roles – the indomitable Eliza Doolitte – following her recent Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in Rebecca Frecknall‘s A Streetcar Named Desire, alongside Paul Mescal and Anjana Vasan.
Bertie Carvel
‘Master of disguise’ (Evening Standard) and two-time Olivier Award-winner Bertie Carvel will next grace our screens as Tony Blair in the sixth and final series of The Crown – before that he will return to The Old Vic following his ‘career defining performance’ (Independent) as Donald Trump in Mike Bartlett‘s The 47th. Taking on the role of Professor Henry Higgins opposite Patsy Ferran’s Eliza Doolitte, he first performed at The Old Vic as part of Artistic Director Matthew Warchus’ inaugural season in Eugene O’Neill‘s The Hairy Ape – where he was also directed by Richard Jones.
Richard Jones
The last time Olivier and Tony Award-winning director Richard Jones was at The Old Vic was at the brink of the pandemic – his production of Samuel Beckett‘s Endgame in a double bill with Rough for Theatre II, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Alan Cumming, was the final show on our stage before closure. His first production at The Old Vic was Alexander Ostrovsky’s Too Clever by Half, which garnered him the Best Newcomer Olivier Award in 1988.
Sir Peter Hall's Pygmalion
The last time Pygmalion appeared on The Old Vic stage was in 2008, in Sir Peter Hall’s final Old Vic production which starred Michelle Dockery and Tim Piggot-Smith.
This marked Peter Hall’s 11th production on The Old Vic stage, a creative partnership that began with The Tempest in 1974.
‘There are three theatres in London that completely capture you when you walk in. One is the Haymarket, the second is Covent Garden and the third is The Old Vic. Not because they’re period buildings but because they have such a welcoming quality. If people feel happy here, I think that’s to do with the decades of happiness enshrined in this auditorium. It’s extraordinary: without The Old Vic, we wouldn’t have Covent Garden, the Royal Opera, the Royal Ballet, Sadler’s Wells, the National Theatre or the RSC. They all, in some sense or other, come from The Old Vic.’