<i>Pygmalion</i> (play)

Pygmalion (play)

<p><i><b>Pygmalion</b></i> is a play by Irish playwright <a href="/en/George_Bernard_Shaw" title="George Bernard Shaw" class="wl">George Bernard Shaw</a>, named after the <a href="/en/Pygmalion_(mythology)" title="Pygmalion (mythology)" class="wl">Greek mythological figure</a>. It premiered at the <a href="/en/Burgtheater" title="Burgtheater" class="wl">Hofburg Theatre</a> in <a href="/en/Vienna" title="Vienna" class="wl">Vienna</a> on 16 October 1913 and was first presented in German on stage to the public in 1913. Its English-language premiere took place at <a href="/en/Her_Majesty's_Theatre" title="Her Majesty's Theatre" class="wl">Her Majesty's Theatre</a> in the <a href="/en/West_End_theatre" title="West End theatre" class="wl">West End</a> in April 1914 and starred <a href="/en/Herbert_Beerbohm_Tree" title="Herbert Beerbohm Tree" class="wl">Herbert Beerbohm Tree</a> as phonetics professor Henry Higgins and <a href="/en/Mrs_Patrick_Campbell" title="Mrs Patrick Campbell" class="wl">Mrs Patrick Campbell</a> as <a href="/en/Cockney" title="Cockney" class="wl">Cockney</a> flower girl <a href="/en/Eliza_Doolittle" title="Eliza Doolittle" class="wl">Eliza Doolittle</a>.</p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">1913 play by George Bernard Shaw</div>
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<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Pygmalion, Written by, Characters, Date premi...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox vevent mobile-collapse-element"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above summary" style="font-style: italic">Pygmalion</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><span class="mw-default-size"><a href="/en/File:Cover-play1913.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Cover-play1913.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Cover-play1913.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="211" data-file-height="240" data-file-type="bitmap" height="240" width="211" alt="Cover-play1913.jpg"></a></span><div class="infobox-caption">Illustration depicting <a href="/en/Mrs_Patrick_Campbell" title="Mrs Patrick Campbell" class="wl">Mrs Patrick Campbell</a> as <a href="/en/Eliza_Doolittle" title="Eliza Doolittle" class="wl">Eliza Doolittle</a></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap">Written by</th><td class="infobox-data description"><a href="/en/George_Bernard_Shaw" title="George Bernard Shaw" class="wl">George Bernard Shaw</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap">Characters</th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><div class="plainlist ">
<ul><li>Professor Henry Higgins</li>
<li>Colonel Pickering</li>
<li>Eliza Doolittle</li>
<li>Alfred Doolittle</li>
<li>Mrs Pearce</li>
<li>Mrs Higgins</li>
<li>Mrs Eynsford-Hill</li>
<li>Clara Eynsford-Hill</li>
<li>Freddy Eynsford-Hill</li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap">Date premiered</th><td class="infobox-data">16<span>&nbsp;</span>October<span>&nbsp;</span>1913<span style="display:none"><span>&nbsp;</span>(<span class="bday dtstart published updated">1913-10-16</span>)</span></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap">Place premiered</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Burgtheater" title="Burgtheater" class="wl">Hofburg Theatre</a> in Vienna, Austria</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap">Genre</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Romantic_comedy" title="Romantic comedy" class="wl">Romantic comedy</a>, <a href="/en/Social_criticism" title="Social criticism" class="wl">social criticism</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap">Setting</th><td class="infobox-data">London, England</td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'><b>Close</b> <span class='arrow'>▲</span></footer></div>

<p>Shaw's play has been adapted numerous times, most notably as the 1938 film <i><a href="/en/Pygmalion_(1938_film)" title="Pygmalion (1938 film)" class="wl">Pygmalion</a></i>, the 1956 musical <i><a href="/en/My_Fair_Lady" title="My Fair Lady" class="wl">My Fair Lady</a></i> and its 1964 <a href="/en/My_Fair_Lady_(film)" title="My Fair Lady (film)" class="wl">film version</a>.</p>



Pygmalion is a play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, named after the Greek mythological figure. It premiered at the Hofburg Theatre in Vienna on 16 October 1913 and was first presented in German on stage to the public in 1913. Its English-language premiere took place at Her Majesty's Theatre in the West End in April 1914 and starred Herbert Beerbohm Tree as phonetics professor Henry Higgins and Mrs Patrick Campbell as Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle. Shaw's play has been adapted numerous times, most notably as the 1938 film Pygmalion, the 1956 musical My Fair Lady and its 1964 film version. 