Sydney Theatre Company Presents PYGMALION

Sydney Theatre Company will present PYGMALION by George Bernard Shaw between 31 January and 3 March 2012.

Opening night: Saturday 4 February, 8pm

Sydney Theatre, 22 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay

George Bernard Shaw’s enduringly popular 1912 play Pygmalion is presented by Sydney Theatre Company in a bold new production directed by Peter Evans. Andrea Demetriades will play the feisty flower-girl, making her STC debut. Pygmalion is at Sydney Theatre from 31 January to 3 March 2012 (Opening Night: Saturday 4 February, 8pm).

Peter Evans’ production blows away the clichés sometimes associated with the brutal and hilarious play that has inspired interpretations as diverse as My Fair Lady, Educating Rita and the 80s Hollywood film Pretty Woman, now transporting the tale into today’s image obsessed world where personalities are created and quashed overnight.

Exploring the themes of identity and uniqueness, the production takes us through the journey of constructing a persona as Professor Henry Higgins (Marco Chiappi) aims to transform the wild Eliza into a star. Eliza is subject of a wager between the phonetics expert and his friend Colonel Pickering (Kim Gyngell), naive to the fact that she is becoming Higgins’ lab rat in the process.

For Sydney Theatre Company Peter Evans has previously directed The Great, Fat Pig, and The Give and Take. He is Associate Artistic Director at Bell Shakespeare and was formerly Associate Director at Melbourne Theatre Company. Andrea Demetriades has most recently toured with the Bell Shakespeare Company as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet directed by Damien Ryan and is currently appearing in the ABC TV series Crownies as Lina Badir.

Kim Gyngell’s career spans three decades in theatre, television and film and includes memorable performances across multiple genres, from comic personality Col’n Carpenter to appearances in gritty film M (Macbeth). He was last seen at STC in Metamorphosis (directed by Ben Winspear, 2005).

Marco Chiappi was last seen at STC in the Playbox Theatre Company production of Jerusalem in 1997. He won the Adelaide Theatre Guide’s Best Male Performance award for
The Real Thing (STCSA, 2008) and his numerous credits with Melbourne Theatre Company
include A Day Too Great, The Transformation of Lucius of Madaura or The Golden Ass and
The Grapes of Wrath.

The exceptional cast also includes Vanessa Dowling, Harriet Dyer, Wendy Hughes, Deborah
Kennedy, Tom Stokes and David Woods.
Director: Peter Evans. Set Designer: Robert Cousins. Costume Designer: Mel Page. Lighting Designer: Damien Cooper. Composer: Alan John. Sound Designer: Steve Francis. AV Designer: Sean Bacon.
Dramaturg: Toby Schmitz. Voice & Dialect Coach: Danielle Roffe.
Cast: Marco Chiappi, Andrea Demetriades, Vanessa Downing, Harriet Dyer, Kim Gyngell, Wendy
Hughes, Deborah Kennedy, Tom Stokes, David Woods.
Box Office: (02) 9250 1777. sydneytheatre.com.au
Tickets: $40 - $130 (transaction fees may apply)