In George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, inspired by the infamous story in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a professor of phonetics makes a bet with his associate Colonel Pickering that he can transform the diction and etiquette of the poor Covent Garden flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, and have her pass for a duchess. This play inspired many more adaptations, such as the musical My Fair Lady and the romcom She’s All That. On Friday 6 October, a group of Sixth Form pupils went to The Old Vic to see a new production of Pygmalion, directed by Olivier Award-winner Richard Jones. The unconventional and ambiguous ending sparked much debate among the students as to its realism and unsatisfactory nature. Overall, though, it is clear that Shaw’s deliberate attempt to subvert the myth of Pygmalion and the romance it portrays, alongside his archetypal characters, culminated in a piece of drama that inspired interesting questions about co-dependency, the rigidity of a hierarchal society and our expectations for romance.
Emma - Upper Sixth Form
Senior members of the Opera Club were utterly transfixed from beginning to end of Britten's harrowing opera Peter Grimes at the English National Opera. Much food for thought, especially the librettist's ambiguous portrayal of community life, the treatment of women, and the complex character of Grimes himself.
Some of our musicians enjoyed a varied programme by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Cadogan Hall on Wednesday 27 September, featuring Elgar’s Cello Concerto and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.
