Theatre review: Mrs Warren's Profession

I don't know that I need to consign Bernard Shaw to the same bin I keep Samuel Beckett in, and just avoid his plays entirely, but I do think I should at least be a lot more selective about what revivals of his I book: I can't particularly argue with the general opinion that his themes have stood the test of time, but for the most part the dry style of the plays he expressed them in keep me at best at a distance, at worst bored. The attraction for Dominic Cooke's production of Mrs Warren's Profession was Imelda Staunton taking on the titular businesswoman, Kitty Warren, whose work has kept her moving around Europe most of her life. As a result she has never spent a great deal of time with her daughter Vivie, who got sent to various private schools in England and has just graduated from Cambridge.

The publicity for the production has leaned heavily on nepotism, with Staunton sharing the stage with real-life daughter Bessie Carter as Vivie who, before starting a job at her friend's legal chambers, gets a memorable visit from her mother and her long-term business partner Sir George Crofts (Robert Glenister.)

Over the course of this time Vivie discovers her mother made her fortune first as a prostitute, then as a madam. Her sympathy for the harsh circumstances that led to this profession fades when she learns that Kitty never actually left it behind, and is now the managing director of a multinational chain of brothels. Staunton has two extraordinary scenes that, as ever, show her to be worth the hype: Her steely but emotional story of being exploited until she found a way to take control; and in the final scene, her fierce defence of her decisions when her daughter condemns them.

The trouble is outside of these two scenes she's not in it much, and the voice that dominates the evening is Vivie's. Obviously many plays get away with an unsympathetic lead, but Vivie is such a domineering Tory - conveniently forgetting her own financial privilege whenever she wants to spout on about how anyone willing to work can make it, imposing her own morality on very different circumstances than her own, overruling anyone who tries to talk back - that I quickly found myself counting down to the end when I could be rid of her.

Kitty's the only one who can match her, and while it's impressive to find an 1893 play that so foregrounds its female characters, the male ones end up cyphers in contrast. Even when Vivie's suitor Frank (Reuben Joseph) discovers they're half-siblings and still doesn't particularly find this an obstacle to marriage these subplots don't really catch fire (Crofts also has designs on Vivie despite not being entirely sure he's not her father, so I guess Shaw was having one of those Whoops!Incest moments playwrights are alarmingly prone to.)

I went with Jim and have to say he really enjoyed everything about the show except the Garrick's aggressively uncomfortable seats, but for me the play only came to life when Staunton was on stage, which was nowhere near often enough for my liking; and even then she had to compete with her daughter's obnoxiously superior tirades.

Mrs Warren's Profession by Bernard Shaw is booking until the 16th of August at the Garrick Theatre.

Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Johan Persson.