Pygmalion – Smock Alley Theatre – Review

2 Aug – 3 Sep | 2:30pm + 7:30pm | Main Space

Pygmalion is a play which has the unusual fate of being more famous for the musical and film version based on it, in My Fair Lady. It was written by George Bernard Shaw in 1913 and tells the tale of a Professor of phonetics, Henry Higgins and his attempts to pass off a local flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, as a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party. This complicated task is performed for the sake of a bet between himself and Colonel Pickering, another student of phonetics, who thought it impossible. While the main premise is similar to that of the film, as with most of Shaw’s work, he is more interested in the class structure of English society and the gender roles within it.

The set is quite simple with a transparent screen in front of the back wall, along with a collection of tables and chairs. These are moved to create the small number of locations required, which are generally the sitting rooms of the various characters. The one unusual addition is an intermittent projection onto the wall above the stage of a number of photographs of a mouth forming a variety of shapes.

The eight member cast all acquit themselves well, with Anna Sheils-McNamee enjoying the role of Eliza.While Ms. Doolittle is played as a vulgar and uncouth young woman in the opening scenes, she is not played purely for laughs as is often the case. The most obviously comedic scene comes on her first introduction to sophisticated society. Paul Meade plays Henry Higgins as a detached cerebral man with little notion of the social graces. Gerard Byrne is enjoyable as Colonel Pickering, the man who teaches Eliza more than elocution.

This new production stays true to the original intention of the work. Shaw was less interested in the transformation of the young woman and more in discussing the nature of English society. It was written just before the first world war and in a time where women were not allowed to vote but the suffragette movement was growing in strength and popularity. While the variety of quips and one liners are still evident, this is not purely a comedy and the final scenes focus on the independence of women in quite a complex manner. Many of the same issues are still relevant today and Shaw cut to the bone with his social commentary.

Directed by: Liam Halligan

Cast: Anna Sheils-McNamee, Paul Meade, Gerard Byrne, David O’Meara,
Tara Quirke, Deirdre Monaghan, Jamie Hallahan, Andrea Cleary.

Set and Lighting Design by: Colm McNally
Costumes by: Olga Criado Monleon
Sound Design by: Osgar Dukes