User Reviews

While Robert Powell was a strange choice to play Doolittle, and the idea that this would add a sexual frisson to his and Eliza's interplay comes to nothing, this is a surprisingly fine version of the play.

Twiggy is an absolute delight as Eliza. As well as being the genuine article (like Eliza, not a cockney but a working-class Londoner all the same), she is innocent, flustered, enchanting and plucky. Her chocolate eating line "I wouldn't 'ave eaten it, but I'm too much of a lady to spit it out" is one of many terrific moments she absolutely nails. And her "not bloody likely, I'm going in a taxi" is the funniest delivery of the line I've ever heard.

Arthur English is spot on as her father too. All in all it's a delightful experiment that really pays off.

'Pygmalion' is a classic play about identity and power within relationships. In one sense it is a comedy of manners centered on the single-minded bullying misogynist Higgins, in another a drama about Eliza Dolittle's place in society.

This version misfires on all levels. Robert Powell is too young and too pleasant as Higgins. You can't imagine he is *really* so uncaring as to see Eliza as a mere object of an experiment in phonetics. Twiggy is both too old and too lightweight an actress to convey Eliza's anguish when she has the speech of a lady but is still essentially a common Cockney flower girl.

This version seems to have been put together because Pygmalion is a popular play and would pull in the viewers. It fails to do justice to its source material and even 'My Fair Lady' (the musical travesty which made the whole thing a love story) is preferable.