| By Rosie Hetherington Try to forget “My Fair Lady” this is a darker and much funnier version of Shaw’s most popular comedy. It’s difficult when you know the songs that should be there. The youthful cast do well but the movie influences still show through. Maybe the Hollywood version was a little too weak and insipid; this is a stronger brew and all the better for it. Despite being written nearly a century ago, “Eliza” is very much a modern heroine. Not exactly “Bridget Jones” the romance is secondary and unimportant to civilised educated gentlemen. To be treated with respect by a rise through society is the goal not a husband. Of course, times have changed and two bachelors sharing a house with a young woman is fairly common. Nowadays, it’s the two bachelors living together that might produce the sort of gossip society then frowned upon. Director Alison Convey has made great use of the space with a simple set standing for so many different exterior and interior scenes. The use of recordings made by “Higgins” of various vowel sounds is most effective while the scene is changed. It does however highlight the difficulty in identifying such similar sounding accents. Helen Winston as “Eliza” expertly portrays her growth from downtrodden flower girl to emancipated Lady. Her uncouth sounds becoming more genteel as she begins to understand the world around her better. She is dominated by Himanshu Ojha’s energetic “Higgins”. He leaps around the stage with a blustering passion unsuspected in an old professor. Praise to the supporting cast of Will Blair as an embarrassed “Pickering” and Laura Corcoran as the matronly “Mrs Higgins”. Sam Thomas as “Doolittle” maintains his comic character genius. The views expressed in these comments are those of the contributor's and not the BBC. | 
