'You see this creature with her kerbstone English: the English that will keep her in the gutter to the end of her days. Well, sir, in three months I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an ambassador's garden party. I could even get her a place as lady's maid or shop assistant, which requires better English.' 

Following this public boast, Professor Henry Higgins accepts a challenge to teach the flower-seller Eliza Doolittle to speak standard English and launch her into polite society.

 Through Higgins's triumphant transformation of Eliza into a 'lady', and Eliza's subsequent rebellion against Higgins's attitudes and assumptions, Shaw's provocative comedy explores questions of speech and class in England.

First performed in London in 1914, ' Pygmalion ' quickly established itself among the classic English comedies.

On this lively recording, which offers the complete text of the definitive script, the play is performed by a distinguished cast led by Sir Michael Redgrave , Sir Michael Hordern , Lynn Redgave and Donald Pleasence .