I am delighted to share my thoughts on Pygmalion by George Berard Shaw. I listened to the Radio 4 Full Cast Version via Borrowbox and my local library.

I love the film “My Fair Lady” and Pygmalion is a book I have been meaning to read for a while now so when I saw this recent version I couldn’t resist.

Let’s have a look and see what it is all about…

• Shaw wrote the part of Eliza Doolittle – an east-end dona with an apron and three orange and red ostrich feathers – for Mrs Patrick Campbell, with whom he had a passionate but unconsummated affair. From the outset the play was a sensational success, although Shaw, irritated by its popularity at the expense of his artistic intentions, dismissed it as a potboiler. The Pygmalion of legend falls in love with his perfect female statue and persuades Venus to bring her to life so that he can marry her. But Shaw radically reworks Ovid’s tale to give it a feminist slant: while Higgins teaches Eliza to speak and act like a duchess, she also asserts her independence, adamantly refusing to be his creation.
• Cast and credits
  Pygmalion
  Henry Higgins……………………Alistair McGowan
  Eliza Doolittle……………………Morgana Robinson
  Alfred Doolittle……………………Al Murray
  Colonel Pickering……………………Hugh Fraser
  Mrs Higgins……………………Siân Phillips
  Mrs Pearce/Maid……………………Charlotte Page
  Mrs Eynsford-Hill……………………Georgie Glen
  Clara Eynsford-Hill……………………Maeve Bluebell Wells
  Freddy Eynsford-Hill…..……………………Tom Forrister
  Nepommuck……………………David Sturzaker
  Ambassador……………………John Dougall
  Ambassador’s wife……………………Sarah Ridgeway
  Bystander……………………David Sterne
  Written by Bernard Shaw
  Produced and directed by Emma Harding
  
  The ‘B’ Word
  Bernard Shaw……………………Alistair McGowan
  George Alexander……………………David Sturzaker
  Mrs Patrick Campbell…..……………………Charlotte Page
  Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree……………………Richard McCabe
  Charlotte Shaw……………………Georgie Glen
  Merivale……………………Philip Fox
  Gurney/Fishman……………………Simon Ludders
  Bell……………………Charlie Clements
  Maid……………………Sarah Ridgeway
  Written by Alistair McGowan
  Produced and directed by Emma Harding

• Published by:BBC Digital Audio
• Duration:2 Hours 38 min
• Fiction/Non-Fiction:Fiction
• Genre:Classics, Performing Arts
• Target Audience:Adult
• Released:31 Oct 2018
• File Format:MP3 (27MB)
• ISBN:9781787531536

I adore My Fair Lady and for me, Audrey Hepburn is Eliza Doolittle. What I know as the film My Fair Lady forms part of the play by Shaw in which Professor Higgins has a bet that he can teach and train a cockney flower girl to sound, look and act like a lady. That section of the story is a play to be shown and in which a certain “B” word will be used for the first time on stage. I do hope that makes sense! 🤔

So if you like this is a story of two parts. There is the stage play where I got to meet the actors and, it also includes some backstage banter and part the opening night reactions, then there is the play itself with the characters of Eliza and Professor Higgins. Does that make any more sense…I think not!!! 😬😜😀

How about I just tell you about how I found the listening side of it instead of trying to explain the story!

This is such a wonderful audio to listen to with a fabulous cast adding the voices to the various characters who bring the story to life. As this is a version that has a full cast it was very easy for me to follow the changes of character.

The story of Eliza and her transformation is one I absolutely adore and I was completely addicted to it. As it just over 2 and 1/2 hours long I was able to do some weeding and listen to it easily in one afternoon.

This is such a wonderful version to sit and listen to, mesmerising and very addictive. If you are new to listening to plays or audio books then this would be a very good place to start.

It is one I would definitely recommend!

And then I sat down and watched the film… 😁💖

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be wonderful 🙂 xx