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
The Wicked World by the fairy work of James Planché, are founded upon the idea of self-revelation by characters under the influence of some magic or some supernatural interference. The first was "The Palace of Truth" in 1870, a fantasy adapted from a story by Madame de Genlis. Second was "Pygmalion and Galatea" (1871), a satire of sentimental, romantic attitudes toward myth, and "The Wicked World" was third. These plays, together with "Sweethearts" (1874), "Charity", and "Broken Hearts" (1875), did for Gilbert on the dramatic stage what the German Reed Entertainments had done for him on the musical stage. They established that his