Pygmalion

What you are to do without me I cannot imagine!

George Bernard Shaw's classic and much loved play is revived in Philip Prowse's Chichester success, now transferred to the Garrick Theatre. Rupert Everett takes on the role of Higgins, with Dancing on Ice winner Kara Tointon playing the cockney misfit, Elisa Doolittle. They are joined by the great Dame Diana Rigg as Mrs Higgins.

What is Pygmalion About?

One evening in Covent Garden Professor Higgins finds himself intrigued by a young cockney flower girl, and in particular, her accent. It's a hobby of his to try and pinpoint, within a London street or two, the exact origins of any dialect. There he meets Colonel Pickering, an expert and author on Sanskrit. Higgins boastfully claims that he could transform the flower girl into a woman who could pass as a duchess. Pickering is not convinced however.

The following day Higgins and Pickering discuss each other's work when Eliza arrives. She'd overheard Higgins' claim and would like to pay for lessons. Higgins is dismissive, he's far too busy to involve himself in such a trivial pursuit, and besides, she could not afford his services. Pickering offers Higgins a wager - he's made such claims, he ought to back them up. Amused by the idea, Higgins agrees, and so he begins the transformation of Eliza - but it turns out not to be as easy or straightforward as he'd initially thought!

Did You Know?

The famous phrase "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain" doesn't actually feature in Pygmalion nor was written by George Bernard Shaw. It was in fact written by the lyricist Alan Jay Learner for My Fair Lady, the musical adaptation of Pygmalion.