Taking its name from the Greek myth about a talented sculptor whose statue comes to life and with whom he falls in love, this Theatre Royal Bath production of Pygmalion marks the 100th anniversary since George Bernard Shaw’s classic comedy of manners was first performed. Poking fun at the Edwardian class system and sheer snobbery that summed up polite society for the early part of the 20th century, I caught up with this handsome version at Theatre Royal Bath during an extensive UK tour. Written just before the outbreak of the First World War, when the country was unknowingly on the verge of great social change, director David Grindley evokes the same sense of surprise and delight that first won over audiences – high and low.
Following a bet with Colonel Pickering (Paul Brightwell), Henry Higgins (Alistair McGowan), a Professor of phonetics, sets himself the challenge of passing off a common flower seller, Eliza Doolittle (Rachel Barry), as a Duchess, who is keen to employ his elocution services and magic her into ‘a lady’. A confirmed bachelor, Higgins declares, ‘I find that the moment I let a woman make friends with me, she becomes jealous, exacting, suspicious, and a damned nuisance. I find that the moment I let myself make friends with a woman, I become selfish and tyrannical. Women upset everything.’
Jamie Foreman makes a strong Alfred Doolittle, the lovable diamond who thinks nothing of selling Eliza to Pickering and Higgins for £5, not being able to afford any morals, he admits. As for his on-stage daughter, Barry’s cockney accent and bizarre squeals are a triumph, as is her portrayal of the metamorphism Eliza gradually undergoes. For a relative newcomer, Barry shines in a role that it is all too easy to miss the mark with. One scene, taking place at Mrs Higgin’s drawing room, finds Eliza veering from ladylike drawing room conversation to relate the possibility of one of her relatives having been ‘done in’ and has the audience in uncontrollable peals of laughter, with Rula Lenska ever graceful and statuesque as Higgins’ mother, who disapproves of her son’s immature experiment and offers a welcome refuge to Eliza.
McGowan has been hailed by the (slightly biased) Bath Chronicle as the best Higgins a person is likely to see in one’s lifetime. He does admittedly bring a breath of fresh air to a role synonymous with Rex Harrison who starred in the 1964 My Fair Lady film version opposite the ravishingly beautiful Audrey Hepburn and, best known as an impressionist, is ideally suited to the role, with his own interest in language and accents making him an utterly believable choice. Having unexpectedly stood in for Rupert Everett when he was playing Higgins a few years ago, this time around McGowan is no longer stepping into anyone else’s shoes or voice. Like the character of Eliza, he has been transformed into a very fine actor without a whiff of the imposter, commenting in a recent interview, ‘I like him [Higgins], I know him and we both share an interest in the specifics of the smallest sounds and we are both fascinated by what accent can say about who we are. We still make judgements about people, based on how they sound: you hear someone speak and within a couple of sentences, it says something about their background.’
Pygmalion brings home that the important thing in life is not having good manners or bad manners but having the same manners and treating everybody with consideration. It’s no easy feat to do justice to such a well loved Shaw work, but Theatre Royal Bath Productions succeed in making the most of both the wit and tragedy of Eliza – a heroine who eventually finds herself in the limbo of being too grand to work for a living and not quite knowing what else to do with herself. Put simply, this production is pitch-perfect.
Pygmalion, at various venues across the UK. Booking until 21st July 2014. For more information and tickets visit the website.
