Pygmalion (play)

On a summer evening in Covent Garden Square in London, the action of the play begins. A sudden downpour catches passersby off guard, and they take cover under the portico of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Among those sheltering are Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, and Colonel Pickering, studying Indian dialects and who has come from India specifically to meet the professor. The chance meeting delights them both, and they chat with great enthusiasm.

Their conversation is interrupted by a terribly untidy flower girl. Begging the gentlemen to buy a little bunch of violets, she speaks so awkwardly and indistinctly that it shocks Higgins. Irritated, the professor, reasoning about the power of his phonetic method, assures Pickering that after his lessons this street urchin will at least be able to get a job as a salesgirl in a flower shop—where, as things stand, she wouldn’t be allowed in, not even at the threshold. And then he declares even more boldly—that within three months he will manage to present her at a reception hosted by the ambassador as a duchess.

With fervor, Higgins sets about his experiment. Obsessed with the idea of turning any street girl into a true lady at any cost, he has no doubts about the outcome and hardly thinks about what his scheme will lead to. Meanwhile, she will completely change not only Eliza’s fate—this is what the girl is called—but also the life of the professor himself.

A production by the State Academic Maly Theatre
Directed by – K. A. Zubov
Performers: K. A. Zubov, E. P. Velihov, D. V. Zerkalova, E. D. Turchaninova, V. A. Vladislavsky, N. Stoyanova, A. Shchepkina, M. Sadovsky
Recording from 1948