Pygmalion - Old Vic
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
SIR PETER Hall’s revival of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion will transfer to London’s Old Vic Theatre, where it will run for a limited season – from May 15 (previews from May 7) to August 2, 2008.
The production was first seen last July at the Theatre Royal Bath, where Hall’s company has taken up summer residency for the past five years, and its original stars Tim Pigott-Smith (as Professor Higgins) and Michelle Dockery (as Eliza Doolittle) will reprise their roles.
For Pigott-Smith, it will mark his return to the Old Vic where, in 1998, he starred alongside Kevin Spacey in The Iceman Cometh.
His other theatre credits include A Christmas Carol, Hecuba, Women Beware Women, Julius Caesar, Sherlock Holmes, Mourning Becomes Electra and just last year, See How They Run at the Duchess Theatre.
His screen credits are equally numerous and include The Jewel in the Crown and North and South (TV); plus Alexander, The Four Feathers, Gangs of New York, Johnny English and The Remains of the Day (film).
Dockery’s credits include Dying for It and Pillars of the Community (stage); and Fingersmith (TV).
Also reprising their roles will be Tony Haygarth (Alfred Doolittle), Pamela Miles (Mrs Eynsford Hill) and Una Stubbs (Mrs Pearce).
Hall has long been associated with the Old Vic. In 1973, he replaced Laurence Olivier as the Director of the National Theatre which then, prior to its move to the South Bank, was based at the the south London venue. In 1988, he left the National and founded the Peter Hall Company but in 1997 returned to the Old Vic with a season of plays that included Waiting For Godot, Waste and The Seagull.
The founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Hall has had recent West End success with Hay Fever, Amy’s View (both in 2006), and Whose Life Is It Anyway? (2005).
Commenting on his return to the Old Vic, Hall said:
“The Old Vic is a wonderful theatre which has figured large in my professional life – from seeing plays there in my youth, to the early days of my Directorship of the National Theatre; and then some 25 years later being in residence there with my own company.
It therefore gives me enormous pleasure that Kevin Spacey has invited me to return to the Vic with my production of Pygmalion. This has, happily, enjoyed considerable success since its opening in Bath last summer and on an extended UK tour, and I cannot imagine a better home than the Old Vic for its London season.”
Spacey, who also expressed his pleasure in the project, said:
“We are honoured to welcome Pygmalion to the Old Vic with Peter Hall’s delightful and entertaining new production of Shaw’s great work. I cannot think of a production better suited to the Old Vic stage and we are excited about beginning a new relationship with the Theatre Royal Bath, and in particular, about welcoming Peter Hall back to the Old Vic.
Pygmalion is designed by Simon Higlett, with costumes by Christopher Woods, lighting by Peter Mumford and sound by Gregory Clarke.
All About My Mother is currently playing at the Old Vic.
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