"Pygmalion"

August 9, 2016 — I admit I'm not a big fan of George Bernard Shaw. I've seen two of his plays in the past, "Arms and the Man" and "Candida," and found neither all that memorable, although I get Shaw's biting satire and social commentary. When I learned the Peterborough Players in Peterborough, New Hampshire was presenting Shaw's "Pygmalion," I debated with myself whether I wanted to see this popular play, better known to latter-day audiences as its musical off-spring, "My Fair Lady." But I thought it might be interesting to see the play in its original form, as Shaw wrote it, so I made a reservation and headed for Peterborough.

This was a very polished production. I'm sure I'll remember it as the best of the season in any theater as far as production values, stagecraft and acting. The play was directed by the Players' artistic director, Gus Kaikkonen, with sumptuous costumes by Jane Stein and two beautiful Charles Morgan sets that were swapped quickly and seamlessly several times during the play. I counted seventeen actors in the program, many of them playing bit parts early in the first act.

Most of us are familiar with the basics of the story. Eliza Doolittle (Karron Graves), the crude Cockney flower girl is taken under the wing of Professor Henry Higgins (Greg Wood). Higgins, suave and learned but cantankerous, over-sensitive and abusive, sets out to make a presentable lady of Eliza.

I wonder how many regulars in the Players audience recognized the almost unrecognizable Kraig Swartz as Eliza's father, long-haired and thick-bearded, in the ragged attire of a street person with a thick Cockney accent. A fine comic actor, Swartz is seen again in the final act, completely transformed to a society gentleman and hating it.

The Hill siblings, Clara (Emily Elizabeth Jones) and Freddy (Mason Conrad), and their mother, Mrs. Eynsford Hill (Dee Nelson) are present to witness Higgins' introduction of Eliza, coming out as a refined lady. Nelson, a multiple award-winning actress, deserves an award here just for her stunned facial expressions.

Dale Hodges, excellent as always, is Higgins' mother, the one person not fooled by Henry's self-absorbed, tyrannical behavior. Michael Page, a Players favorite, is Colonel Pickering, Higgins' friend, fellow confirmed bachelor, and often defender of Eliza and apologist for the bombastic professor. Another award-winning actress and Players regular, Lisa Bostnar, is somewhat underused here as Higgins' maid, Mrs. Pearce.

Shaw's skewering of the British class system and the gulf between the upper and  lower classes in this play set in 1911 London is still relevant today. It didn't make me any more of a Shaw fan than I was before, but this production by the Peterborough Players deserves awards for excellence in direction, sets, costumes and casting.