Pygmalion

THE first voice we hear in Robin Midgley's bright and breezy, restructured Pygmalion is that of GBS himself bemoaning the disrespect…

THE first voice we hear in Robin Midgley's bright and breezy, restructured Pygmalion is that of GBS himself bemoaning the disrespect of the English for their beautiful language in succumbing all too often, to ..... the vulgar dialect of the golf club". Thus are we confronted by the play's two major themes - language and social class.

Midgley has concentrated his production around the fact that Shaw was always much involved in the staging of his plays, writing copious stage directions and substantial prefaces. Much of this extraneous, but rather fine, writing has been absorbed into the reshaped text.

Frank Quinn's set and costumes give it the appealingly quirky look of a classic Punch cartoon. Some fine characterisations add to this - Prim Finigan as a gentle, gracious and slightly dotty Mrs Eynesford Hill, Barbara Adair as the spirited, unbelievably patient housekeeper, Mrs Pearce, and Brigid Erin Bates as the wordly wise, cultured Mrs Higgins.

Niall Cusack could debounce his Higgins just a little and still remain eccentrically successful in portraying a truculent middle aged boy and intellectual chauvinist of the worst possible kind. Barry Cassin is a polished and elegant Colonel Pickering, while Farrell Fleming's pretty, sparky Eliza takes flight with her character, observing to the total oblivion of her mentor that the only difference between a flower girl and a lady is in the way in which she is treated.

Jane Coyle

Jane Coyle is a contributor to The Irish Times specialising in culture