new production

George Bernard Shaw's classic returns to the Old Vic this autumn as part of the iconic venue's 2023/24 season in this brand new production starring Patsy Ferran and Bertie Carvel, with direction from Richard Jones. While it may be the basis for the beloved musical My Fair Lady, Pygmalion is a darker foundation, examining the attempts of a man to create a 'consort for a King' from a spirited flower girl. 

Artistic directed Matthew Warchus commented on the news: "I'm very excited to welcome back to the Old Vic the truly exceptional talents of Patsy Ferran, Bertie Carvel, and Richard Jones. I anticipate explosive results as they take on Shaw's searing and iconic study of identity and control."

When it debuted in 1914, Pygmalion polarised audiences, delighting them but also causing a scandal with its witty attack on the oppressive British class system and gender inequality. Shaw in turn based his drama on the Greek Myth of the same name, likening his upper-class phoneticist Henry Higgins to the sculptor Pygmalion who thinks he can transform a working-class flower girl into the toast of polite British society, without taking into account that she may just have a mind of her own...

What is the story?

The story opens with the meeting of Professor Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering, a fellow linguist. Higgins bets his old friend that with the use of dialect coaching and phonetics he'll be able to turn a cockney flower girl into a well-spoken gentlewoman within a matter of months. When said flower girl Eliza Doolittle turns to Higgins for lessons, the haughty professor embarks on a stunning transformation, but he may have met his match in the fiery Miss Doolittle.