Pygmalion: new take on old classic at STC

Next month, Sydney Theatre Company will present the classic and enduringly popular Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. In a new production directed by Peter Evans (The Give and Take, Fat Pig), the play is transported into today’s image-obsessed world where personalities can be created and destroyed overnight.

Pygmalion is no stranger to transformation, having been the inspiration for works as diverse as My Fair Lady, Educating Rita, and popular film Pretty Woman. It’s the story of the construction of a persona as Professor Henry Higgins, played by Marco Chiappi (Jerusalem, The Real Thing) tries to transform wild and unpredictable Eliza, who will be played Andrea Demetriades (Bell Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, ABC TV’s Crownies), replacing the originally announced Jessica Marais, to win a bet between he and phonetics expert Colonel Pickering (Kim Gygnell).  The play presents interesting questions about identity and uniqueness. Will Eliza become Higgins’ lab rat? How much are we a construct of those around us, and can we ‘fit in’ and still be true to ourselves?
The cast also includes Vanessa Dowling, Harriet Dyer, Wendy Hughes, Deborah Kennedy, Tom Stokes and David Woods. Performances run from January 31 to 3 March 2012 at Sydney Theatre on Hickson Road, Walsh Bay.

Box Office: (02) 9250 1777Bookings: sydneytheatre.com.au  Tickets: $40 – $130