Pygmalion: Overview Harold Farwell
Pygmalion, premiered in Vienna (October 1913) was Bernard Shaw's first play to enjoy real financial success in England and has remained his most popular work. The London premiere (1914) was sensational, the reviews like love letters, and the play has enjoyed success ever since. The filmed version (1938) and the musical My Fair Lady (1956, filmed in 1964) were equally successful and only added to the stature of the original.
Despite its seemingly plastic adaptability, Pygmalion is actually a carefully crafted play, a well-made play with a classically structured plot. It is an actor's delight, and does not demand complicated staging, though it does offer lush scenic possibilities, as both the film and the musical demonstrated. Shaw's satire seems muted, and for many the play creates its own rather warm world and evokes an era poignantly, almost lovingly. Shaw appears to be honestly fond of all his characters, even Henry, whose introduction in the stage directions sets Shaw's tone: ``he is so entirely frank and void of malice that he remains likeable even in his least reasonable moments.''
For a curmudgeon to be somehow lovable is unusual, but that curious conjuction of possibilities explains a great deal about Shaw's characterization and why actors are challenged by it. Eliza's transformation from flower girl to someone capable of moving in the highest social circles offers marvelous theatrical possibilities. Even Mr. Doolittle, Eliza's father, with just two relatively short appearances on stage, often steals the show. He claims to be one of the ``undeserving poor,'' but his honesty and worldly common sense demand recognition. When he is finally ``rewarded'' with money, middle-class status, and the necessity of respectability, his fate clearly parallels that of his daughter, but his new status (unlike Eliza's) has been achieved so effortlessly, so undeservingly that it cautions us not to take too seriously Eliza's own hard-won victory.
Although not a
Despite its seemingly plastic adaptability, Pygmalion is actually a carefully crafted play, a well-made play with a classically structured plot. It is an actor's delight, and does not demand complicated staging, though it does offer lush scenic possibilities, as both the film and the musical demonstrated. Shaw's satire seems muted, and for many the play creates its own rather warm world and evokes an era poignantly, almost lovingly. Shaw appears to be honestly fond of all his characters, even Henry, whose introduction in the stage directions sets Shaw's tone: ``he is so entirely frank and void of malice that he remains likeable even in his least reasonable moments.''
For a curmudgeon to be somehow lovable is unusual, but that curious conjuction of possibilities explains a great deal about Shaw's characterization and why actors are challenged by it. Eliza's transformation from flower girl to someone capable of moving in the highest social circles offers marvelous theatrical possibilities. Even Mr. Doolittle, Eliza's father, with just two relatively short appearances on stage, often steals the show. He claims to be one of the ``undeserving poor,'' but his honesty and worldly common sense demand recognition. When he is finally ``rewarded'' with money, middle-class status, and the necessity of respectability, his fate clearly parallels that of his daughter, but his new status (unlike Eliza's) has been achieved so effortlessly, so undeservingly that it cautions us not to take too seriously Eliza's own hard-won victory.
Although not a