Before The Horse Entertainment has announced their debut live stage production of SHAW SHOW to be presented March 12-15, 2020 at Goff Auditorium, 974 Newport Ave, Pawtucket. SHAW SHOW is a new adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion written and directed by Duane Langley. Just in time for Women's History Month, Langley's new adaptation infuses Shaw's original tale of the lowly street seller who learns to present herself as a lady with modern #MeToo sensibilities, making the playwright's portrait of female independence as relevant now as when it was first staged. SHAW SHOW runs Thursday, March 12 at 7:00 pm, Friday, March 13 at 7:00 pm, Saturday, March 14 at 7:00 pm and Sunday March 15 at 2:00 pm. General admission is $20, with discounts for groups of 15 or more. All seats are on sale now at www.tinyurl.com/SHAWSHOW.
In SHAW SHOW, Linguistics Professor Henry Higgins (Langley) makes a bet that he can transform a lowly Cockney flower seller into a duchess, simply by changing the way that she speaks. For the next six months
Eliza Doolittle (Hannah Heckman-McKenna) undergoes grueling training at the hand of Higgins. When she finally makes her debut in British high society, she is believed to be a lovely woman of sensitivity and taste. But when once his "creation is complete and Higgins sends her packing, what part of society does she belong to now?
West End audiences first exposed to Shaw's Pygmalion were disappointed by the original ending, looking for more of a pleasant romantic diversion. Soon producers, eager to please, started adding a new, happier ending onto the play that implied the couple had a future together as man and wife. In 1916, an irritated Shaw added a postscript essay, "'What Happened Afterwards," where he explained in no uncertain terms why it would be impossible for his story to end with the marriage of Eliza and Higgins.
"I thought it was incredibly important to keep the story true to Shaw's original intent," states Langley, "so we have included this part of Shaw's text so that audiences will know for a fact that our Eliza's future will not be shaped by the men that surround her. She needs to create her own journey as an independent woman."
Before The Horse Entertainment has assembled a large cast of New England area actors for SHAW SHOW, alongside Langley and young actress Heckman-McKenna, who commutes from Salem, NH to star in the production. Providence film and stage actress Pamela Gill plays housekeeper Mrs. Pearce,
Richard Johnson of North Kingstown plays Colonel Pickering, Mary Niederkorn of Needham, MA plays Higgins' mother and
Michael Gregory Johnson of Newport plays Eliza's ne'er do well father, Alfred Doolittle. Freddy Eynsford-Hill is played by Dimitry Mercier from Central Falls, with Sharon Johnson of North Kingstown, as his mother and Jasper Bliss of Wrentham, MA as Clara Eynsford-Hill. Rounding out the cast are Jeff Gill (Duxbury, MA), Sara Booth (Pawtucket), Eric Toolin (Cranston) and Austin O'Goffa (Providence).
The production design team includes set design by George Mattegat, lighting design by
Susan Rose, costume design by Lisa Parente, makeup design by Travis Johnson and stage management by Sara Booth.
Pygmalion remains Shaw's most popular play, and its themes can be seen adapted again and again throughout global popular culture. From the beloved musical My Fair Lady to subsequent film versions and again within pop culture treatments in Film and TV, starring everyone from
Julia Roberts and
Lindsay Lohan to
The Three Stooges and
Eddie Murphy, even
Woody Allen made a film drawing heavily upon the play's themes of metamorphosis to travel between class structures.
Comments
To post a comment, you must
register and
login.
