A radical new version of the classic text, Pygmalion, will be at the Playhouse this spring. George Bernard Shaw’s acute comedy is a hilarious and poignant tale of two opposites, Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle, trying to find a common language. The production runs at the Williamson Square venue from Tuesday 7th to Saturday 11th March.
“The science of speech. That’s my profession. I can place any man within six miles. I can place him within two miles in London. Sometimes within two streets.”
Over one hundred years after it was written, Headlong explore one of the most celebrated comedies of the early 1900s. In this audacious new staging, director Sam Pritchard playfully carves a contemporary world on stage using sound and video technology which examines class identity and questions how far accents and speech can define us in Britain today
The iconic Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins are brought into the 21st Century whilst retaining all the elements of Shaw’s original story. Professor Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a scruffy flower girl Eliza Doolittle to pass as a Duchess at an Ambassador’s garden party by training her to change her accent.
Director Sam Pritchard said: “I think we have told ourselves at various points in our history that class is dead and that the way you speak doesn’t matter to your life chances in modern Britain. But I’m not so sure that’s true. We’re still entangled in how money, accent and what we say shape our identity and our place in the world.”
The full cast is Alex Beckett (Henry Higgins), Ian Burfield (Alfred Doolittle), Gavi Singh Chera (Freddy Eynsford Hill), Flaminia Cinque (Mrs. Pearce/Mrs. Eynsford-Hill), Natalie Gavin (Eliza Doolittle), Racheal Ofori (Clara Eynsford-Hill), Liza Sadovy (Mrs. Higgins), Raphael Sowole (Colonel Pickering).
Tickets for Pygmalion are priced from £10 -£30. Tickets are available from the Playhouse Box office, by telephone on 0151 709 4776 or online at www.everymanplayhouse.com.
A single transaction fee of £2 applies to all phone, counter and internet bookings. Cash payments are exempt from any transaction fees.