The Co-op of Pacific Resident Theatre Presents
Mrs. Warren's Profession
by George Bernard Shaw
Directed by Michael Rothhaar
In Victorian England, when women enjoy few legal rights, Kitty Warren has built an international business empire. When her daughter Vivie, who has been “boarded out her whole life,” graduates from Cambridge, she presses her mother for answers as to her existence. The truth of how her mother survived poverty is difficult to hear; but it’s not the whole story. Mrs. Warren’s Profession takes a hard look at the choices a woman must make, faced with little or no options before her, and the moral implications of economic survival.
Written in 1893, the play was originally banned in the UK. When it finally premiered in New York in 1905, the entire cast was arrested on opening night.
Shaw’s play continues to be a witty, insightful and relentless account of two women, at different points in life, who insist on choosing their own destinies. This play remains every bit as resonant and, sadly, every bit as necessary as it was 130-odd years ago. That these fierce women are mother and daughter and stand opposed to each other equally armored, makes for a thrilling, shocking and heartbreaking tale.