My Fair Lady at Lighthouse Poole Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by Lisa

‘I could’ve danced all night…’! This is how we felt coming to watch My Fair Lady at Lighthouse Poole. This song in particular took me back to my grade 5 singing exam, although Eliza Doolittle did a much better job of singing it than I did! She had an amazing voice as did Professor Henry Higgins. His delivery of lines was extremely witty and he had a commanding presence, contrasting with Eliza. The chemistry between the two leads was electric, balancing humour, tension, and heartfelt emotion with ease.

The story follows Eliza Doolittle, a feisty Cockney flower girl, who becomes the subject of a wager between the linguistics professor Henry Higgins and his friend Colonel Pickering. The wager? To transform Eliza into a lady who can pass as a duchess in high society through the power of proper speech. The storyline explores identity and societies expectations, and although Eliza is transformed in many ways, the narrative cleverly explores who truly undergoes the transformation, making it relevant to today’s society and expectations and judgements we can also have of people.

From the moment the curtain rose, the audience was transported into the bustling world of Edwardian London, with stunning set designs and exquisite costumes that perfectly captured the essence of the era. It was brilliant that it started with a timeline of major events from 1901 and how women were treated in history, and showing this story was around 1912.

The staging was both grand and intimate, adapting seamlessly to the shifts in setting—from Higgins’ elegant study to the bustling streets of London, keeping the audience engaged throughout. The large chorus were particularly well choreographed, moving around the relatively small stage without tripping over each other somehow, with the race course scene demonstrating some expressive acting from the entire cast in unison. Being an amateur production, it was great to see a diverse cast and they all did brilliantly. Musically, the solos and chorus items were almost flawless, with some lovely harmonies during the chorus items. Sadly the live orchestra didn’t always quite match their quality, although every song still resonated beautifully within the acoustics of Poole Lighthouse.

The venue is easily accessible by train, car or bus, and has excellent facilities including a restaurant and bar.

I saw this show many years ago in London and it was brilliant then, and it matched up to my expectations here even in a smaller theatre setting. Having the opportunity to go again with my husband was brilliant and he also loved it, having never seen it before. One downside was that the show lasted over 3 hours altogether, including a 20 minute interval. However, we had an amazing night out – we laughed, cried and sang along and it’s a great family show, from around age 9+. From the very start we were captivated, with the famous songs still being included. As the final bows were taken, the applause was thunderous and rightly so. It’s wit, heart, and spectacular musicality makes it a must-see production. We will definitely be looking up future P&P Productions shows to get along to!

Rating: 4/5
Price of tickets are £22 for an adult.
Tickets can be booked by visiting https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/event/my-fair-lady/
Venue address: Poole Lighthouse, 21 Kingland Rd, Poole, BH15 1UG