BWW Reviews: PYGMALION - 5Pounds of Repertory Theatre

Opening 5pound theatres repertory season last night was Daniel Lammin's adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. Lammin's adaptation is a feature of this performance with the 90 minute one act version managing to tell an often drawn out story in a particularly succinct and stylish way. Coupled with this was the theatre in the round-esq stage design which complemented the play and gave it a particularly personal feel. Performances were varied throughout the evening, with Tom Molyneux providing the nights highlight as Colonel Pickering. There were also a couple of dynamic scenes between Jason Cavanagh's Henry Higgins and Freya Pragt's Eliza Doolittle which nailed the dramatic tension required and kept the action humming along. For the majority of the evening however, the play was at that particularly uncomfortable level for both performer and audience where the script isn't fully secure. Lines were dropped and fumbled constantly throughout and on occasion the play was on the brink of stopping due to lost lines. Thankfully it didn't and rounded itself off to be quite a successful performance.

 

5 pound theatre's Repertory season is a chance for Melbourne audiences to see stagings of some great plays and musicals over the coming weeks. They are to be commended for their courage and creativity and are hopefully rewarded with audiences throughout the season.