Pygmalion (Classic Radio Theatre)

Bernard Shaw

Sep 2011 · BBC Digital Audio · Narrated by Full Cast, Imelda Staunton, and Simon Cadell

About this audiobook

When phonetics tutor and linguist Henry Higgins meets Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle, he makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he can teach her to speak so well that she will be able to pass herself off as a Duchess at a society ball. Eliza agrees, seduced by promises of chocolates and taxi rides - but her transformation from caterpillar to butterfly will not be easy, and the process will take its toll on both Eliza and Higgins... Written in 1912, Pygmalion enjoyed instant success and was adapted as the hit musical My Fair Lady, starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. Among the star cast in this 1986 adaptation are Simon Cadell, Imelda Staunton, Rachel Gurney and Edward Hardwicke.

About the author

George Bernard Shaw was one of the greatest 20th Century dramatists. He wrote over 60 plays, including Arms and the Man (1894), Man and Superman (1903), Pygmalion (1912-13) and Saint Joan (1923). In addition, he also authored five novels and two collections of short stories. He is the only person to have been honoured with both a Nobel Prize for Literature (1925) and an Academy Award (1938, for Pygmalion). Shaw was offered a knighthood, but turned it down, as he refused most awards. He died in 1950, aged 94.