Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Helen Carter, Jessica Dyas, Julie Glover, Danny O’Brien, Michael Starke, Matthew Walker.

Whether we like it or not, we are not eternally assessed by our efforts or our accomplishments, our standing or our points of view, but we are judged by our accents and manners, the way we talk is immediately weighed and measured and for most of us this unfair conclusion keeps us in a place to which their no escape, we are immersed into a world which prizes the idea of class, even though we fight against it at every possible moment.

To ask a person to change their way they present themselves can be seen as either interfering with the natural, or perhaps with kindness, bringing an unseen element out in someone, placing within them an obligation to better themselves; it is in this lesson on how the other half behaves and is judged, one for their down to earth and no nonsense qualities, the other for their perceived and often misguided superiority, that makes the notion of the unfolding of a human butterfly come alive.

Change and acknowledgment is at the heart of Kevin Fearon’s My Fairfield Lady, the inverting of George Bernard Shaw’s own interpretation of the Greek legend of Pygmalion, the sense of the reversing the sense of class and how an accent and the situation can be observed in today’s world. From the ethos of the B.B.C. continuality announcer or newsreader that was once upon a time instructed to use perceived pronunciation, or Queen’s English, to the acceptance that regionalism is more trustworthy, more comforting to the viewer and the ear, Kevin Fearon’s own inverting upon the Royal Court Theatre stage is in itself a feat of aural fascination.

Reuniting Helen Carter, Danny O’ Brien and Michael Starke together on stage is always a theatrical bonus, the sense of fun for the audience is magnified, and with the superb Jessica Dyas taking to task the involuntary judgement that dwells within us all as we hear people speak, labelling them posh, down at heel or rough and ready, My Fairfield Lady highlights the emphasis that is required to cross boundaries in the minefield of social cohesion and the ability to see beyond the invisible divide of class.

“We are betrayed by our accent and manners”, as The Jam pointed out, My Fairfield Lady reveals with great observation the truth of how we can overcome such class diction.

Ian D. Hall