Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

If you've watched and loved the delightful musical My Fair Lady, then you'd love to read the wonderful play on which it is based. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw is equally engrossing and as full of charm, wit and underlying pathos. First performed on stage in 1912, Pygmalion takes its title from the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. In the ancient story, a brilliant sculptor, Pygmalion falls in love with one of his own creations, a ravishingly beautiful sculpture whom he names Galatea. He propitiates Aphrodite, who grants his wish that his statue would come to life and that he could marry her. His wish is granted and the couple live happily ever after. Shaw's play uses the symbolism of the myth to show how a human being can be molded into anything that another wants. It is also Shaw's most popular and best loved play and gave him the distinction of receiving both the Nobel Prize for Literature and an Oscar Academy Award! The play opens one rainy night in Covent Garden. Theater