Pygmalion

Most people would be familiar with this much-loved Shavian play, and/or the musical it inspired My Fair Lady, in which a poor flower girl is transformed beyond her class as a challenging social experiment. In it, Shaw shows us how language, speech and manners define and class us – both our perception of ourselves and how we are seen by and see others. He also shows us is how women were (sometimes still are) regarded as an object, to be picked up and discarded at will, with drastic consequences for all concerned.

No wonder Eliza demands 'What is to become of me?' when her life is completely changed by Higgins. Shaw also examines morals and philosophy, especially through the character of Alfred Doolittle, Eliza's father.

This STC staging is a minimalist and very contemporary, 'deconstructed' version. Particularly in the first half, it is cold, detached and extremely analytical. There is no dazzling Ascot Races scene, no Embassy Ball; all is stripped back to a very few props (a chair, a vase). Higgins’ office is crowded with computers with medical imagery. Also included are projection screens and high-tech cameras, similar in some ways to their use in the recent Belvoir productions of Wild Duck and Measure for Measure, again emphasising detachment. There’s some fascinating use of mirrors, and we see Eliza getting changed, brushing her hair discreetly in the shadows at the back of the stage. Often the entirety of the huge Sydney Theatre stage is revealed to great effect.

Individually the fine, strong performances are excellent but I had the feeling that everyone was giving performances in their own play and not Shaw's. (The second half, with the confrontation scene, worked really well though). Great attention is paid to the text and there is excellent diction.

Eliza as played by Andrea Demetriades is magnificent. At times she is deceptively kitten-like but there are occasions when the volcano explodes, such as during the confrontation scene after the Ball in Act 2, which is brilliantly done. Demetriades encourages us to follow Eliza's journey and, unlike Higgins, warmly applaud her strenuous efforts. She also shows great comic timing.

As Higgins, Marco Chiappi is very eccentric, pompous, overbearing and self centred .He is played to the hilt with some over-the-top mannerisms, a great spring in his step and a fabulous voice. Colonel Pickering, as portrayed by Kim Gyngell, looks rather like a country parson with floppy hair and glasses. Gyngell is not really given much chance to shine, but his Pickering is shown as a thoroughly decent, caring chap.

Alfred Doolittle is marvellously played by David Woods, who gets this member of the 'undeserving poor', this lower class moralist, just right in a terrifically tuned performance. He was quite happy as he was, thank you gov'nor. Mrs Higgins is also played marvellously, by Wendy Hughes, very elegant in a beautifully designed black pantsuit with silver cape. Most imposing and dominating, she tries to get Henry to understand Eliza's predicament but he won't listen.

As Mrs Eynsford Hill, Vanessa Downing is delightful. Her son Freddy, who might possibly marry Eliza, is terrifically played by Tom Stokes (but in this play all about class, clothes and manners, why is he dressed down in jeans and parka?). Harriet Dyer plays his shy, awkward, gangly sister Clara with witr.

The ending of the play is ambiguous and quite meta as we follow Higgins with his camera towards Eliza in her dressing room. The audience as voyeur? A thought-provoking, most unsettling production.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Pygmalion
By George Bernard Shaw
Director: Peter Evans
Set Designer: Robert Cousins
Costume Designer: Mel Page
Cast: Andrea Demetriades, Marco Chiappi, Kim Gyngell, Harriet Dyer, Vanessa Downing, Tom Stokes, Deborah Kennedy, David Woods, Wendy Hughes

Sydney Theatre
31 Janurary–3 March 2012
Bookings: www.sydneytheatre.com.au

Below: The horse-race scene from My Fair Lady