His repeated use of the word ‘Gov’ner’ to flatter Higgins and Pickering is artful and effective. His monologue on ‘middle-class morality’ is both indubitable and funny. Asked by Pickering if he has no morals he replies in a heartbeat “ can’t afford ’em“. He is Chaplin-esque in the way he plays with his hat and walks around the stage. Seconds later he returns as a member of the lowest of the low a dustman dressed in rags. As Freddy, he is all camp high spirits and jolly japes. Playing both the Aristocrat Freddy Hill and the cockney dustman Arthur Dolittle he is pure comedy gold.
The comic genius of the show is Jack Matthews. In a very funny scene as Henry launches into one of his temper-tantrums his mother takes him down with a short sharp “ be quiet Henry and take your hands out of your pocket.” The two people who do much to put him right are his housekeeper Mrs Pearce (her name clearly intended as a pun on her voice and character) and his mother Mrs Higgins both wonderfully played by Cassandra Hodges.
A forty-five-year-old virgin and mummy’s boy – he lacks self-knowledge. Shaw is at his best in showing that Higgins has as much to learn as Eliza. Colonel Pickering represents the best of these social investigators as he shows Eliza kindness and understanding, Higgins on the other hand is arrogant, authoritarian and angry. Indeed for these Vicwardians the East End of London was darkest Africa.
When Higgins meets Pickering (brilliantly captured by Andrew Lindfield) it’s as if Stanley had come across Livingstone but The former played by Christopher Walthorne is one of those high-minded Vicwardians who spent their time ‘saving’ the poor. The duo who conduct the social experiment on Eliza are Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering. We see a young woman finding both her self-respect and her own voice. Francesca puts her all into showing us how painful and difficult this is for Eliza. Her journey from ‘guttersnipe” to respectable English Lady is the heart of the play. From her first scene as the cockney flower seller yelling ‘ GETCH YER FLARS’ covered in dirt and wearing rags we know that she has nailed this part. Francesca Ottley captures Eliza Doolittle (she does much not little) wonderfully well. This shape-changing, language shifting and ultimately social class-moving dynamic is the focus of the play. Note in particular Jack Matthews’ exit as an aristocratic and return 30 seconds later as a cockney dustman. The range of accents articulated and the speed of transformation (in both costume and accent) from Cockney to Aristocrat is incredible. All five are clearly enormously talented. Producers Louisa Marie Hunt and Andrew Lindfield turn the space of the stage into Covent Garden, a drawing room in Wimple Street, and a garden with nothing but a few props, lighting and Debussy.Īs I say five actors play all the parts. Cassandra Hodges plays four. That includes the young girl selling programs in the foyer. The energy and zest for theatre shine through from all concerned. Being a brilliant talent spotter he has chosen actors of outstanding talent, skill and dedication. Pete Gallagher’s direction is assured – he focuses on the key conflicts and ensures a brisk tempo is maintained throughout. Five actors play all the parts, and move the props between the scenes. With limited resources, DOT productions have done remarkably well. DOT productions have put together a terrific adaptation which is a joy to watch. It’s a fascinating, intriguing and very pertinent play which has much to offer for us as we grapple with all of the aforesaid issues. Shaw saw immediately that Pygmalion gave him the perfect vehicle to explore his obsessions class, language, gender and society. The word pygmalion has entered the language for any attempt to make a person or society in the image of another. Pygmalion has been made into films, and musicals like My Fair Lady and provided the inspiration for Educating Rita and Daisy Pulls it Off. Written in 1912 Shaw’s Pygmalion has like the Canterbury Tales become a classic. I was there to review Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, a writer who like Chaucer was a master storyteller. As the pilgrims assembled at the Tabard Inn on the Old Kent Road in 1370 in preparation for the journey that became Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, so last night a group of contemporary theatre pilgrims mustered at the theatre at the Tabard in Chiswick just by Turnham Green Station.
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