Last week, we looked at My Fair Lady. I thought that this week, it would be fun to take a look at the play on which that musical was based: George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.
Shaw's socialism comes through a bit in Act Two, when Eliza's no-good father shows up at Henry Higgins's house and taps him for five pounds so he and his girlfriend can go on a bender. It's a terrific act, all around. Well, and it's a terrific play. The writing is keen, the wit is stiletto-sharp, and only the women around Higgins -- his housekeeper, his mother -- see the deadly disaster looming at the end of this experiment.
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. He was also an essayist, novelist and short story writer. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems with a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable. Issues which engaged Shaw's attention included education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege.
He was most angered by what he perceived as the exploitation of the working class. An ardent socialist, Shaw wrote many brochures and speeches for the Fabian Society. He became an accomplished orator in the furtherance of its causes, which included gaining equal rights for men and women, alleviating abuses of the working class, rescinding private ownership of productive land, and promoting healthy lifestyles. For a short time he was active in local politics, serving on the London County Council.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Here's the whole version of a 1981 production starring Twiggy as Eliza Doolittle. It seems vaguely familiar to me, so perhaps I saw it on PBS back then.
I think it's quite a delightful TV adaptation, with apologies for the commercials at the end of Act Two. (Go get a beer or a snack or use the loo, or just enjoy TV ads circa 1981 BBC.)