Pygmalion
Name of production: Pygmalion
Script by: George Bernard Shaw
Directed by: Dion van Niekerk
Venue: Wynand Mouton Theatre
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Date and times:
29 – 31 March 2017 @ 19h30
Price: R40.00 for adults / R30.00 for students & scholars / R25.00 for pensioners.
Bookings: Computicket (0861 915 8000)
Pygmalion
The Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at UFS will be presenting a production of Pygmalion at the end of this month, in the Wynand Mouton Theatre, from 29-31 March, 19:30.
Pygmalion is one of English drama’s classic plays. Written by George Bernard Shaw in the early 1900s, the play is based on an ancient Greek myth in which a sculptor, Pygmalion, falls in love with one of his statues, which then comes to life.
In Shaw’s story, a professor of phonetics, Henry Higgins, takes a bet that he can train a poor flower girl to speak “proper” English, and pass her off as a duchess. Eliza Doolittle, the subject of this experiment, must learn to improve her manners, language and social skills. But what does she lose along the way?
Pygmalion is a gentle comedy that makes a statement about class structures and the role of women in society – it isn’t hard to draw parallels with South African social conditions. Shaw’s famous play was converted into a popular musical in the 1960s, and many people will recognize the story of Pygmalion in My Fair Lady.