Pygmalion production 'a triumph'

Shaw’s story of Henry Higgins’ bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that, after just a few months ‘training’, he can transform the language and manners of Cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle to the point where he can pass her off as a Duchess in ‘Upper Class’ society is remarkably familiar. Not least because it was the template for the Lerner and Loewe musical comedy ‘My Fair Lady’.

The play itself was first performed a very long time ago. April 1914 to be precise, just three months before the outbreak of World War I.  Tanks had yet to be invented (as had the BBC) and Bleriot had only recently become the first to cross the English Channel in a heavier-than-air craft. Music was still commonly recorded on phonographic cylinders, cars were exceedingly rare, there was a speed limit of 20 mph throughout the land and, only one year earlier, a woman was arrested by police for the offence of wearing a split skirt (in Richmond Park!).

Then, a rigid class system still divided those born to rule from the rest; and those born to rule held to ‘standards’ by which they judged all others. Not least, speaking ‘correctly’ and displaying ‘good manners’ was, it often seemed, even more important than what was actually said and done.

Quite remarkable then that – in the right hands – Shaw’s play remains witty and sharp; and a reflection of our times, perhaps, that its pointed social comment still chimes – albeit in a perverse sort of way  – with issues in today’s society. Admittedly, Pygmalion has lost its ability to shock (a national debate raged in 1914 over Eliza’s use of the ‘outrageous’ phrase “not bloody likely”) but, with a really outstanding cast, the play can still engage the audience, provoke gales of laughter and land a few good punches at the same time.

Well, this cast and this production certainly cut the mustard. Cai Jones’ Henry Higgins was a wonderfully self obsessed control freak with a tendency towards petulance and bloody mindedness when under pressure. Rebecca Kerr played Doolittle, in all her guises, as to the manner born. She revelled in every stage of Eliza’s transformation; from the gutter, through incandescent displays of histrionics until the flower girl finally emerges bearing all the superficial attributes of a ‘lady’. And this production kept faith with Shaw, enabling Eliza in her final scene to show just a flash of steel.

All too easy for Director Jonathon Scott to be content with allowing the cast to drift in the wake of these two leviathans. Instead, he has pushed hard to get the very best from every member of the cast.  Alister Dell delivered a really excellent Colonel Pickering, displaying just a little of the humanity so clearly absent from Higgins’ entire universe. 13 year-old Harry Hitchens played a blinder as Eliza’s dad; big on bluster with just a hint of weedling and a large dose of  half -hearted self pity whatever his circumstances. Camilla Gifford got Higgins’ Housekeeper, Mrs Pearce spot on. Loyal, ‘though sometimes bristling with frustration at the eccentricity of her employer, she is more than capable of laying down the law when sufficiently provoked. In short, she is the epitome of the servant who quietly ensures that a dysfunctional household such as this possesses at least a veneer of normality. And then there is Henry’s mother – wonderfully portrayed by Isabelle Smith (she didn’t so much enter stage left but ‘hove into view’ like a stately ship steaming into harbour). It’s not an easy role to get right - seemingly trapped in a world where ‘breeding’ and ‘station’ mean all, she is nevertheless capable of seeing her son as he really is and, in the end, is even prepared to show support for Eliza and (heaven forfend) attend her father’s wedding as he ‘reluctantly’ bows to the pressures of ‘middle-class morality’.

Finally, Jasper Pickering, Chloe Wilkes and Amy Coulstock provide an appropriately twittering ‘Upper Class’ chorus, reminding us, on every appearance, of exactly the society that Shaw was taking to task.

Ultimately Pygmalion can be very funny and very hard hitting; and nearly 100 years after its birth, the cast showed that they were more than up to ensuring that Shaw’s railing against the excesses of the late Edwardian era still resonates.

It’s impossible to salute such a triumph without noting a final irony. Today it is more likely that the masters of our universe would go to Higgins for advice on how to transform their ‘Oxford accents’ into Estuary English; these days, it’s got so much more street cred.

This is Jonathon Scott’s directing debut here and it bodes well. Nicholas Beeby’s appointment as Director of Drama unleashed a real renaissance in Drama at Hurst. Now it is clear that he has been joined by a colleague capable of delivering productions that are equally inspirational and underpinned by the same exacting standards and attention to detail. 2009 should be a vintage year …