Did you know that My Fair Lady is based on a play? I didn’t. George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, in turn inspired by the Greek myth about the man who makes a woman out of clay and then falls in love with her, is somewhat darker than the beloved film. It follows obsessive phoneticist Henry Higgins as he tries to win a wager by training the working-class flower seller Eliza Dolittle to speak like a lady. Eliza enjoys the benefits of a middle-class life, but she and Higgins enter a battle of wills once she realises that she can advocate for herself.

The actors at the People’s Theatre are brilliant in this production, which has a runtime of over two and a half hours (including the interval). Although it’s technically nonprofessional, you’d never be able to tell. Their RP accents didn’t slip once.

Although the impeccable English and complicated manners are antiquated, the themes of class consciousness and prejudice are definitely not. As the programme pointed out, this class divide is still unfortunately relevant today. Let’s just hope that we’re all a little more compassionate than Henry Higgins.

Sid Phoebus