Introduction to the Pygmalion Pilot Project
Welcome to the Pygmalion Pilot Project. In a joint venture with the TDSB, we’ve put together this page to help you enjoy the various sights and sounds of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. Building on the Greek myth of the sculptor Pygmalion, who crafts his perfect woman out of ivory, Shaw’s play follows the attempts of Professor Henry Higgins to venture down a similar path as his Greek predecessor. However, set in the heart of London in the early 1900s, Pygmalion’s narrative takes a path of its own and breathes new life into the Greek myth. Featuring a variety of different characters, Pygmalion takes its readers (or viewers) on a tumultuous ride through the complicated and often humorous complexities of the upper-class British lifestyle.
Be sure to also check out our Productions of Pygmalion page for further insight into the wide-reaching grasp of this powerful story.
Links to downloadable Pygmalion PDFs:
Not only is George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion a fantastic work of writing, but it has taken on a life of its own in the realms of both television and cinema. The play first took to the movies with Pygmalion in 1938. What makes this film so special is that in it Shaw had an active part in the development and filming of the movie, making it true to his artistic vision. Since then, Pygmalion has appeared a number of times in different medias. Television, film, and theatre have all been touched by Shaw’s play. The core of the story is so powerfully universal that it has even been translated into different languages and performed in different countries, including productions in Hindi and Bengali.
Take some time to enjoy the full 1938 film below:
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO
Watch British-Irish stage and film actor Peter O’Toole perform in Pygmalion:
CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO
Not only is George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion a fantastic work of writing, but it has taken on a life of its own in the realms of both television and cinema. The play first took to the movies with Pygmalion in 1938. What makes this film so special is that in it Shaw had an active part in the development and filming of the movie, making it true to his artistic vision. Since then, Pygmalion has appeared a number of times in different medias. Television, film, and theatre have all been touched by Shaw’s play. The core of the story is so powerfully universal that it has even been translated into different languages and performed in different countries, including productions in Hindi and Bengali.
Take some time to enjoy the full 1938 film below:
Watch a young Kate Middleton assume the role of Pygmalion’s Eliza Doolittle in an elementary school performance detailed in this DailyMail article.
The Greek Pygmalion Myth
Given the popularity of G.B Shaw’s work, people have begun to look to its original source of inspiration, the Greek Pygmalion myth. In brief, Pygmalion was a Greek sculptor who carved statues out of ivories. Unsatisfied with the women around him, he carved his ideal woman into a beautiful statue, Galatea . It wasn’t long however, before he fell in love with his creation. At the festival for Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, Pygmalion prayed that his statue would come to life. When he returned home, he kissed Galatea’s lips, and rested his hands on her body. With Aphrodite’s blessing, his prayer was answered, and he then married Galatea.
Check out these two interesting and unique takes on the Pygmalion myth. They were both created by young and talented minds like your own!
BONUS: the second is set to music from Zelda: The Wind Walker
EXPLORING THE DIFFERENCES IN ENGLISH ACCENTS
English is an old language that has seen many different variations over the centuries. Among these are the Queen’s English, Cockney and Oxford/Cambridge English. Check out a few examples below!
The Cockney Accent
This accent most commonly seen in the many different portrayals of Eliza Doolittle. Check out a few examples in the following examples:
How to do a Cockney Accent Instructional Video
Michael Caine: An Accent That Broke Class Barriers
My Fair Lady – Eliza Doolittle’s Cockney Accent
My Fair Lady – Vowels
Performance of My Fair Lady by Covenant Christian High School, Indianapolis, Indiana Part I
Performance of My Fair Lady by Covenant Christian High School, Indianapolis, Indiana Part II
Notice the way the performer’s lips move differently as they articulate the words in the accent.
Queen’s English (Received Pronunciation)
How to Master Proper English Pronunciation
A funny satire of Queen’s English
The London Centre of Spoken English
The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast (1957)
Queen Elizabeth II Christmas Broadcast (2010)
Notice how the first video focuses more on the movement of your lips when speaking the Queen’s English. In the second link, a young girl satirizes the differences between the different accents, but in doing so she performs a great Queen’s English accent. The third video focuses again on the differences in pronunciation between English and other languages. There are slight differences in the way we move our lips and tongues that lead to a much different sounding end result. In the final two videos, we look at a comparison between the Queen’s speech between her Christmas broadcast in 1957 and more recently in 2010!
HELPFUL ANNOTATIONS ON PYGMALION
Annotations/Explanatory Notes on Pygmalion
Act One
See this link for help with understanding British Currency prior to 1971
worrited and chivied:
Upset and bothered by harassment or petty attacks
hearing in it the voice of God, rebuking him for his Pharisaic want of charity to the poor girl:
Remembering his Christian values, criticizing his self-righteous motivations to provide charity
lighted with a gas lamp with a penny in the slot meter:
During the time in which Pygmalion is written, the gas supply for the house was unlocked by a coin slot somewhere in the house. Owners would deposit a pence to access gas for stoves or lamps, or a shilling in more luxurious neighborhoods. These coins would later be collected by the gas company.
Act Two
black frock coat:
Popular men’s coat typically knee-length, that skirts all around the base
white linen collar:
A detached linen collar used for more formal attire
scullery:
A room in the house typically used for washing dishes and clothes.
copper:
A police officer
blackguard:
A person who behaves in a dishonourable way
one of the undeserving poor
A sometimes derogatory term referring to the absolute bottom of the lower class. In today’s society, it would be used to classify illegal immigrants, welfare recipients, anyone who can be accused of not contributing to society
Act Three
at-home day:
It was a social custom in the British Victorian society that women would have a day at home to receive visitors on a specific day of the week. This day would be printed on her ‘calling card’ to specify when she would be available to entertain.
the habitual anxiety of straitened means:
The constant anxiety of having little money
bravado:
Boldness and courage
genteel poverty:
Within the class systems existing in Britain during the time of Pygmalion, the lower class was not simply limited to the poor. Inside the lower class, existed its own class system. The previously mentioned undeserving poor reside at the bottom of this system. The genteel poverty however, are closest to the top, at the border of the lower-middle class.
prudery:
The virtue or qualities of being prudish, or excessively modest.
eliminate the sanguinary element from her conversation:
To remove the harshness or lower class elements from the way she speaks. Sanguinary literally means bloodiness or in reference to bloodshed. The poetic use of the word in this excerpt tries to amplify the extend of how harsh Eliza’s speech is.
Act Four
Higgins, in evening dress…carrying a smoking jacket:
An garment of clothing meant to be worn while smoking tobacco out of a pipe or cigar. Typically worn by the upper class, this jacket was worn to absorb the smell of the smoke and catch any falling ash, that might ruin or damage your outfit beneath.
coroneted:
Adorned or decorated, typically with small crowns
billet-doux:
A love letter.
Act Five
I touched pretty nigh everybody for money:
I asked pretty much everybody for money
the pauper’s uniform:
The look and appearance of someone who begs for money to make a living
the Skilly of the workhouse and the Char Bydis of the middle class:
A reference to the Ancient Greek story, The Odyssey by Homer, where the hero attempts to sail through a narrow passage with Scylla, a sea monster on one side, and Charybdis, a live-threatening whirlpool on the other side. The parallel of this reference is by Higgins to express that he too is trapped between two options that aren’t the most pleasant. Today we’d say something similar to ‘you’re trapped between a rock and a hard place’.
UNDERSTANDING BRITISH CURRENCY PRIOR TO 1971
To help us understand the many different types of money in the era of Pygmalion, we must first frame it in today’s terms. The primary unit of the British financial system prior to 1971 was the pound (£). As of the writing of this piece, the English pound is valued at approximately 1.5 Canadian dollars ($).
However, due to differences in regional rates as well as a significant amount of inflation between now and the time period in which Pygmalion is set, the value of one pound was much greater than what it is today.
To begin, it is important to understand the ways that the pound was divided, similarly to the ways nickels, dimes, quarters and pennies comprise a dollar.
20 Shillings (known in slang as a bob) made one pound.
similarly
240 pennies (or pence) made one pound.
– 240 pennies made one pound because originally, 240 silver penny coins weighed 1 pound (lb).
Sovereign: equal value to 1 pound, distributed in coin form, made of gold.
Crown: equal value to 5 shillings
Half-a-crown: equal value to 2 shillings and 6 pence
Tuppence: two pence
Guinea: 1 pound and 1 shilling (or 21 shillings)
If you’re still finding it difficult to wrap your minds around how much purchasing power these denominations held during their time, estimates put the value of a pound in 1910 to approximately 76£ today. That’s around $120 CAD.
Learn more at the following websites:
Conversion/inflation tool: http://www.measuringworth.com/ppoweruk/
References to British currency before 1971:
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/moneyold.htm
http://www.victorianweb.org/economics/currency.html
UNDERSTANDING PYGMALION
With the help of our partners and friends at the Shaw Festival, we have been able to compile a few resources that might help you tackle some of the details in G.B Shaw’s text, Pygmalion. Check them out below: