On 21st March, 2011 the advanced courses of English from the evening grammar school watched ″Pygmalion”, a play by the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw.
This play was performed by the tour de force theatre company – a pleasure for eyes and ears.
The story starts on a rainy night in London’s Covent Garden. A crowd of people gathers in front of the church to wait out the storm. Among them is a lady (Mrs Eynsford Hill), Freddy, her son, a flower girl (Eliza Doolittle), a gentleman (Colonel Pickering) and the Note Taker (Henry Higgins). A commotion starts when Eliza mistakes Higgins for a policeman. He reveals himself to be a scientist of phonetics. He and Pickering, a linguist of Indian dialects, introduce themselves.
Higgins tells Pickering he could transform the bedraggled Cockney flower girl into a duchess within six months.
The next Day, Eliza appears in Higgins laboratory and demands speech lessons. Pickering bets that Higgins could not pass her off as a lady at the ambassador's party in a month’s time. Higgins takes the challenge. For a number of months, Higgins trains Eliza to speak properly and well like a duchess. Eliza has to pass two tests.
The first occurs at Higgins’ mother’s home. There Eliza is introduced to the Eynsford Hills, Freddy and his mother. The attempt fails when she slips into Cockney again. Mrs Higgins fear s that their experiment will lead to difficulties, but Higgins and Pickering are too absorbed in their game to listen.
A second trial at the ambassador’s party is a resounding success. The bet is definitely won, but Higgins and Pickering are too busy discussing the evening that they forget to congratulate Eliza. Eliza is hurt and so she and Higgins have a big dispute.
The following morning, Higgins and Pickering rush to Mrs Higgins, because Eliza has run away. She disapproves of the childish behaviour of the two.
Eliza, who was upstairs during their conversation, tries to ignore Higgins but thanks Pickering for treating her like a lady during the whole time. As she wants to leave for her father’s wedding Higgins and Eliza get into another argument. She still does not know what to do with herself now. Higgins suggests her to get married.
At least they both go separate ways.
With its biting humor over five acts, the audience was entertained nearly the whole time.
The realization of the play with only five actors, some of them embody two characters, is masterful. The director has created varied scenes and effects with just some simple props. The stage set consists of white panels, which embody a wall, a garden or a flat.
All in all we could see a successful and entertaining play, which is suitable for pupils to improve their English skills.