“If you’re going to perform Pygmalion for a modern audience you have to think abut what makes it relevant – what is familiar,” OTG director Daniel Whitley explains.
Currently in the final flourish of rehearsals before Oxford Theatre Guild brings George Bernard Shaw‘s renowned play, on which the classic film My Fair Lady was based, to the Oxford Playhouse stage from April 1-5, he is keen to ensure a full theatre with a vibrant production.
‘I’m a firm believer that when someone goes to see a play they need to come out asking questions and wondering what happens next’
For those of you who haven’t come across it, Pygmalion features Eliza Doolittle, a working-class flower seller who’s taught to speak like a lady by Professor Higgins, and in so doing evoking questions around gender, power dynamics and what happens when you no longer fit into the world you came from, but don’t quite belong in the one you’ve entered?
“Most people approach Pygmalion through My Fair Lady, but the play is actually much more transformative. It’s about what happens when someone becomes a new person and has the skills and agency to live and flourish in a new world,” Daniel explains.
“Eliza was a flower girl and is given an opportunity to become a lady, but once she has adapted to this different situation and set of circumstances she does not now how to function in the family and community she came from. She becomes the victim of both worlds and we need to get that across to a modern day audience. That was the starting point for me.”
“What was important to us is Higgins (the professor of phonetics who makes a bet that he can teach Eliza Doolittle how to speak proper English), because in Shaw’s play he comes across as rather unsympathetic to Eliza’s plight, so what we’ve done is make a few trimmings to make him less outlandish and more palatable.
“Neither did we want to approach it from a romantic point of view, because in this day and age, a middle aged man and a 20 year-old woman feels wrong. So we are not concentrating on their potential relationship but more about what happens to Eliza and her strong persona,” Daniel adds.
‘we are really proud of what we’ve achieved with Pygmalion. Bringing your work to a live audience is one of the best feelings’
Choosing to stage it in 1912, like the original, Daniel says: “We have a really striking set with period costumes to ensure it’s a traditional production, so that people can understand the characters and their motivations.
“What we have done however is give it a more approachable slant for a modern day audience, to enable them to think critically about men and women’s roles in society, their social mobility, the universal power of the time, things we still think about today.
“Because I’m a firm believer that when someone goes to see a play they need to come out asking questions and wondering what happens next, to buy into the world you’re creating for them and think abut what might happen next.
‘If you were in this situation what would you do’?
“Especially in Pygmalion, because the play ends with Eliza leaving Higgins and you don’t know what happens next. Does she come back, go home or go back to selling flowers? That needs to be real for the audience so that they ask themselves that question. If you were in this situation what would you do?”
A big ask then, bringing such a classic back to a big theatre like Oxford Playhouse? “It’s been challenging but fun. You have to trust in your actors and empower them to focus on the intensity of the characters to make it feel real on stage.
“Pygmalion is Shaw’s most famous play and what he’s best known for. But it is not My Fair lady, in that there’s no singing and dancing, but instead it’s basically a play about human interaction.”
‘whether you know Pygmalion or not, Shaw ensures there are things that everyone can relate to’
And with over 60 people auditioning for the 14 roles with OTG, an amateur dramatic company, it was a popular choice, with rehearsals beginning in January three times a week to enable them to really get into character, Pygmalion looks set to be quite the show!
“We are all feeling very positive and confident about bringing it in front of an audience, it’s ready. And it’s got something for everybody, whether you know Pygmalion or not, because Shaw ensures there are things that everyone can relate to and notice.
“Shaw writes really intelligently for women, and their struggles, so Eliza’s story is complex. He just writes really intelligent stories that people can insert themselves into, and that’s one of his talents – making his worlds believable.
‘Come and see something witty, relevant, educational and entertaining’
“So come along. Come and see something witty, relevant, educational and entertaining. Because we are really proud of what we’ve achieved with Pygmalion. Bringing your work to a live audience is one of the best feelings.”
PYGMALION is at Oxford Playhouse from April 1-5. Book here https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/events/pygmalion
