REVIEW: Pygmalion, Nuffield Theatre

By Gareth Newnham

SAM Pritchard’s bold, modern reimagining of Bernard Shaw’s classic social comedy Pygmalion is a triumph.

A combination of clever staging, superb lighting and mesmerising performances by the entire cast take Shaw’s linguistic satire of the British class system and make it feel as fresh, vital and depressingly relevant as when it was first written over a hundred years ago.

The Edwardian parlours of Shaw’s original have been converted into a modern linguistics lab where pompous phonetics professor Henry Higgins is now a beat boxing hipster and Eliza Doolittle is no longer a cockney but a world-weary northerner- slyly modernising the character’s inherent prejudices to be economic as well as geographical to great effect.

The play opens with the cast lip syncing their lines in a series of regional accents - comically none of them ‘fit’ either - undermining audience expectations and creating a fantastic shorthand for Shaw’s concerns about class and linguistic ability, while creating a sense of foreshadowing, for Higgins plans to change Eliza’s character by ‘improving’ her voice.

Sound and stage are used to brilliant effect throughout the whole of the production. Filmed vignettes are projected onto the bunker- like exterior of Alex Lowde’s set to hide changes. Eliza’s initial confrontation with Higgins and Colonel Pickering culminates with Higgins creating a techno remix of Eliza’s attempts to properly enunciate the alphabet, while Mr Doolittle’s monologue about the duplicitous nature of the British class system is transformed into a stand-up routine from a working man’s club.

The superb staging is backed up by knock-out performances by the entire cast, however, ultimately it is the palpable chemistry between Natalie Gavin’s headstrong, but conflicted Eliza, Alex Beckett’s overbearing, rude and ultimately tragic Higgins, that really steals the show. Each give powerful, yet playful performances that make their relationship feel as relatable as it is caustic and watching the power shift between the two as the play progresses is captivating throughout.

A superb update of one of last century's finest comedies, Pygmalion is the kind of play that every Fair Lady (or gentleman) will enjoy.

Pygmalion runs until May 13