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Mrs. Warren's Profession

For the 1960 German film adaptation, seeMrs. Warren's Profession (film).

Mrs. Warren's Professionis aplaywritten byGeorge Bernard Shawin 1893, and first performed in London in 1902. It is one of the three plays Shaw published asPlays Unpleasantin 1898, alongsideThe PhilandererandWidowers' Houses.The play is about a former prostitute, now a madam (brothelproprietor), who attempts to come to terms with her disapproving daughter. It is aproblem play,offering social commentary to illustrate the idea that the act of prostitution was not caused by moral failure but by economic necessity. Elements of the play were borrowed from Shaw's 1882 novelCashel Byron's Profession,about a man who becomes a boxer due to limited employment opportunities.

Mrs. Warren's Profession
Photographs from the 1918 production ofMrs. Warren's Profession,directed by and starring Mary Shaw (pictured in the two lower frames).
Written byGeorge Bernard Shaw
Date premieredStage Society, 5 January 1902 (private)
Place premieredNew Lyric Club
Original languageEnglish
SubjectThe madam of a string of brothels justifies her career to her daughter
GenreProblem play
SettingA cottage at Haslemere, Surrey
Wikisourcehas original text related to this article:

Summary

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The story centres on the relationship between Mrs Kitty Warren and her daughter, Vivie. Mrs. Warren, a former prostitute and currentbrothelowner, is described as "on the whole, a genial and fairly presentable oldblackguardof a woman. "Vivie, an intelligent and pragmatic young woman who has just graduated from university, has come home to get acquainted with her mother for the first time in her life.[1]The play focuses on how their relationship changes when Vivie learns what her mother does for a living. It explains why Mrs. Warren became a prostitute, condemns the hypocrisies relating to prostitution, and criticises the limited employment opportunities available for women inVictorianBritain.

Plot

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Vivie Warren, a thoroughly modern young woman, has just graduated from theUniversity of Cambridgewith honours in Mathematics (equal ThirdWrangler), and is available for suitors. Her mother, Mrs. Warren (her name changed to hide her identity and give the impression that she is married), arranges for her to meet her friend Mr. Praed, a middle-aged, handsome architect, at the home where Vivie is staying. Mrs. Warren arrives with her business partner, Sir George Crofts, who is attracted to Vivie despite their 25-year age difference. Vivie is romantically involved with the youthful Frank Gardner, who sees her as his meal ticket. His father, the (married) Reverend Samuel Gardner, has a history with Vivie's mother. As we discover later, he may be Vivie's out-of-wedlock father, which would make Vivie and Frank half-siblings. Mrs. Warren successfully justifies to her daughter how she chose her particular profession in order to support her daughter and give her the opportunities she never had. She saved enough money to buy into the business with her sister, and she now owns (with Sir George) a chain of brothels across Europe. Vivie is, at first, horrified by the revelation, but then lauds her mother as a champion. However, the reconciliation ends when Vivie finds out that her mother continues to run the business even though she no longer needs to. Vivie takes an office job in the city and dumps Frank, vowing she will never marry. She disowns her mother, and Mrs. Warren is left heartbroken, having looked forward to growing old with her daughter.

Origins

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Shaw said he wrote the play "to draw attention to the truth that prostitution is caused, not by female depravity and male licentiousness, but simply by underpaying, undervaluing and overworking women so shamefully that the poorest of them are forced to resort to prostitution to keep body and soul together."[2]Shaw "addresses a social problem, organized prostitution, and dramatizes it through the character Vivie Warren."[3]

He explained the source of the play in a letter to theDaily Chronicleon 28 April 1898:

MissJanet Achurch[an actress and friend of Shaw’s] mentioned to me a novel by someFrenchwriter [YvettebyGuy de Maupassant] as having a dramatisable story in it. It being hopeless to get me to read anything, she told me the story... In the following autumn I was the guest of a lady (Beatrice Webb) of very distinguished ability—one whose knowledge of English social types is as remarkable as her command of industrial and political questions. She suggested that I should put on the stage a real modern lady of the governing class—not the sort of thing that theatrical and critical authorities imagine such a lady to be. I did so; and the result was Miss Vivie Warren... Mrs. Warren herself was my version of the heroine of the romance narrated by Miss Achurch. The tremendously effective scene—which a baby could write if its sight were normal—in which she justifies herself, is only a paraphrase of a scene in a novel of my own,Cashel Byron's Profession(hence the title,Mrs Warren's Profession), in which aprize-fightershows how he was driven into the ring exactly as Mrs. Warren was driven on the streets.[4]

Performance history

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Fanny Brough as Mrs. Warren in the 1902 London production. Part of a series of photographs of the production taken byFrederick H. Evans.According to a note in Cornell University Library's archive, playwright George Bernard Shaw referred to Evans as "the most artistic of photographers."

The play was originally banned by theLord Chamberlain(Britain's official theatrecensor) because of its frank discussion ofprostitution,but was finally performed on Sunday, 5 January 1902, atLondon's New Lyric Club with the distinguished actor-managerHarley Granville-Barkeras Frank,Fanny Broughas Mrs. Warren, George Goodhart as Sir George Crofts, Julius Knight as Praed, Madge McIntosh as Vivie andCosmo Stuartas the Rev. Samuel Gardner.[5]Members-only clubs had been a device to avoid the eye of authority, but actors often also used the opportunity to invite their fellow-artists to a private showing of a play, usually on Sundays, when theatres were closed to the public. The first public performance in London took place in 1925.

A 1905 performance inNew York,this time on a public stage, was interrupted by thepolice,who arrested the cast and crew for violating New York City's version of theComstock laws.[6]It was later held not to be in violation of the law,[7]and has been revived on Broadway five times since. In December 1918 the play was produced in Perth, Australia by the actor manager Alan Wilkie and featured a friend and protégé of Shaw, Frediswyde Hunter-Watts, as Vivie Warren.

The play has been twice revived by the National Theatre, first in 1970–71 at the Old Vic, directed by Ronald Eyre, with Coral Browne and Sarah Badel, and more recently at the Lyttelton Theatre in 1985–86, directed by Anthony Page, with Joan Plowright and Jessica Turner as Mrs Warren and Vivie.

The 1976 Broadway revival featuredRuth Gordonas Kitty,Lynn Redgraveas Vivie,Philip Boscoas Sir George Crofts andEdward Herrmannas Frank Gardner.Tony Awardsnominations went to Redgrave was for "Best Actress in a Play" and Herrmann for "Best Featured Actor in a Play". Herrmann won a Tony.

TheShaw FestivalatNiagara-on-the-Lake, Ontariohas mounted the play five times since the Festival's inception in 1962: 1976, 1990, 1997, 2008, and 2016

In 2006, it was revived off-broadway byThe Irish Repertory Theatre,withDana Iveyas Mrs. Warren, Laura Odeh as Vivie Warren, andDavid Stalleras Mr. Praed.[8]

The play was revived in 2010 in three separate venues:

It was performed by theSydney Theatre Companyin 2012, and was so popular that the season was extended.

In 2016 the play was performed at the Center Theatre in Seattle.

In 2018, Eleanor Bishop's adaptation of the play was performed at theASB Waterfront Theatrein Auckland, New Zealand by the Auckland Theatre Company.

In 2021, the play ran off-Broadway at Theatre Row, produced by Gingold Theatrical Group.

In 2022, the play was performed at the Chichester Festival Theatre withCaroline Quentinas Mrs Warren and her real life daughter, Rose Quentin, as Vivie. The play ran from November 30 to December 3, before going on tour in 2023 to venues including the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford[9]and the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham.[10]

Sequel

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SirHarry Johnstonwrote a sequel, a novel entitledMrs. Warren's Daughter,circa 1920.[11]

Adaptations

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A 1960 German film adaption,Mrs. Warren's Profession,starredLilli Palmer.

BBC Television produced a television version first broadcast on 3 October 1972 onBBC2under the 'Stage 2' drama strand.[12]Produced byCedric Messinaand directed byHerbert Wise,it starredCoral Brownein the title role, withPenelope Wiltonas Vivie. Also in the cast wereJames Grout,Robert Powell,Richard PearsonandDerek Godfrey.Under thePlay of the Monthstrand, the production was repeated onBBC1on 21 April 1974.[13]The production was released on DVD in 2006.

A radio adaptation was broadcast on theBBCin 2002, and re-broadcast in January 2009 onBBC Radio 7,starringMaggie Steedin the title role.

Armen Pandola'sMrs.Warren's e-Professiontransforms the story by bringing it into modern times. Mrs. Warren grows rich from her online porn and dating sites while her sheltered daughter recoils from the knowledge that her privileged life is based on the exploitation of women.

Vivie's character and the changing role of women

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Men who could afford to get married in the Victorian era could make use of “laws that gave him total control of his wife's person—and her fortune”.[14]Victorian women were expected to maintain a poised and dignified manner, and to obey their husbands. Vivie defies the Victorian expectations of an obedient woman: she is educated and entirely self-sufficient. She rejects two marriage proposals, reflecting her reliance on her work ethic and hard-headed approach to life. Shaw represents Vivie as the product of a type of gender reformation: a character who is asexual and "permanently unromantic".[15]

Throughout the play, the boundary between sexual desires and proposed marriages is blurred. Frank flirts with both Mrs. Warren and Vivie; Mrs. Warren's companion Sir George Crofts proposes marriage to Vivie despite his relationship with her mother. Critic Petra Dierkes-Thrun argues that these examples illustrate the way in which Shaw "critiqued the ideological and economic system that produced her [Mrs. Warren], attacking the problematic double standard ofmale privilegeand the deeply entrenched objectification of women, which Shaw saw pervading all levels of Victorian society down to its most basic nuclear element, the family. "[16]

References

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  1. ^Shaw, George Bernard (1902)."Mrs. Warren's Profession"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 22 November 2010.Retrieved7 February2011.
  2. ^Powell, Kerry (2004).The Cambridge companion to Victorian and Edwardian theatre.Cambridge University Press. p. 229.ISBN978-0-521-79536-4.
  3. ^Powell, Kerry (19 February 2004).The Cambridge Companion to Victorian and Edwardian Theatre.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-79536-4.
  4. ^"Mrs. Warren's Profession Study Guide"(PDF).Guthrie Theater. 2003. pp. 25–26. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 31 October 2007.Retrieved14 August2008.
  5. ^Shaw, Bernard (8 April 2018)."Mrs. Warren's Profession: A Play in Four Acts".A. Constable.Retrieved8 April2018– via Google Books.
  6. ^"Arnold Daley Held for his Shaw Play".The New York Times.15 November 1905.Retrieved21 May2012.
  7. ^"The Court Approves Bernard Shaw's Play".The New York Times.7 July 1906.Retrieved21 May2012.
  8. ^"Mrs. Warren's Profession - Irish Repertory Theatre".irishrep.org.Retrieved8 April2018.
  9. ^"Mrs Warren's Profession at Guildford".
  10. ^"Mrs Warren's Profession at Cheltenham".
  11. ^Mrs. Warren's Daughter: A Story of the Woman's Movement by Harry Johnston.Retrieved8 April2018– via gutenberg.org.
  12. ^"BBC Programme Index".
  13. ^"BBC Programme Index".
  14. ^Laurence, Dan H. "Victorians Unveiled: Some Thoughts on Mrs. Warren’s Profession". Shaw: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies 24 (2004): 40. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  15. ^"Mrs. Warren's Profession",The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Twentieth Century and Beyond(eds. Joseph Black, et al.) Canada: Broadview, 2008
  16. ^Dierkes-Thrun, Petra.English Literature in Transition, 1880–1920,Volume 49, Number 3, 2006, pp. 293–310 (Article)
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