Pygmalion (play) Pygmalion (play) Pygmalion is a play by George Bernard Shaw, named after a Greek mythological figure. It was first presented on stage to the public in 1913. In ancient Greek mythology, Pygmalion fell in love with one of his sculptures, which then came to life. The general idea of that myth was a popular subject for Victorian era English playwrights, including one of Shaw's influences, W. S. Gilbert, who wrote a successful play based on the story called "Pygmalion and Galatea" that was first presented in 1871. Shaw would also have been familiar with the burlesque version, "Galatea, or Pygmalion
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (play) was given in 1938 with Grahame Clifford as Claudius, Erik Chitty as Guildenstern, Leonard Sachs as Rosencrantz, and Peter Ridgeway as Hamlet. The play continues to receive occasional productions. It figures in the plot of the 2009 film "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead". 1874 was a busy year for Gilbert. He illustrated "The Piccadilly Annual"; supervised a revival of "Pygmalion and Galatea"; and, besides "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern", he wrote "Charity"; a play about the redemption of a fallen woman; a dramatisation of "Ought We to Visit Her?" (a novel by Annie Edwardes), an adaptation from the French, "Committed for Trial",