Sydney Theatre Company presents
Pygmalion
By George Bernard Shaw

In one of the great transformative tales of all time, a feral young flower seller glimpses an opportunity to elevate herself in society and boldly snatches at it, naïve to the potential cost of doing so.

It’s a decision that sees the now iconic character Eliza Doolittle transported into the aristocratic world of one Professor Henry Higgins, where she becomes the subject of a wager between the phonetics expert and his friend Colonel Pickering. Higgins bets that within six months he can turn the wild, cockney Eliza into a lady so refined she could pass for a duchess. It’s a matter of professional pride and intellectual curiosity for Higgins. For Eliza it is a matter of infinitely more complexity.

Taking its name from the Greek myth about the sculptor who fell in love with his statue, George Bernard Shaw’s enduringly popular play Pygmalion has in turn inspired interpretations as diverse as My Fair Lady, Educating Rita and the eighties’ Hollywood flick Pretty Woman. Shaw’s story is one of rags to relative riches but his Eliza is no Cinderella and Higgins is certainly no Prince Charming. In Peter Evans’ new production Andrea Demetriades will play the original feisty flower-girl.

2 hours 30 minutes, including interval
Sydney Theatre