Felicity Kendal, legend though she is, is not the only reason we're excited about Mrs Warren's Profession transferring to the West End for a run at Comedy Theatre.
A controversial play in its time, Mrs Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw was banned from public performance by Lord Chamberlain until the 1920s for its frank discussion of prostitution. A New York production in 1905 resulted in the arrest of the entire company. Shaw's criticism of capitalism, marriage, the position of women, and the very structure of British society in the 1890s, draws undeniable parallels with British society circa 2010.
Recent dramas like Secret Diary of a Call Girl and blogs like that of Belle de Jour allow a contemporary insight into the world of the oldest profession through the eyes of strong, determined women. In a similar vein, Shaw's play pits against each other two determined women with unflinching conviction in their beliefs, and he adds a healthy portion of Victorian family melodrama as mother and daughter go head to head.
Cambridge-educated Vivie (Lucy Briggs-Owen) is prim, conservative and ambitious. She plans to go into law, making a profession dividing grey areas into black and white, while she enjoys a generous allowance courtesy of her mother whose ill-gotten gains she has no knowledge of. Through Vivie and her mother, Shaw examines the hypocrisy of the comfortable classes and the personal consequences of whoring, however business-like the transaction.
Lucy Briggs-Owen and Felicity Kendal have been applauded for their powerful portrayal of the chalk and cheese mother and daughter, at loggerheads over what constitutes morality. So look forward to much rationalising and ugly judgemental confrontation. With Kendal's ex-husband Michael Rudman directing, expect to enjoy the melodrama as Mrs Warren explains the rise of her chain of brothels on the continent and why she keeps them in business.
Photo Credit: Nobby Clark
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