Mrs. Warren's Profession
Encyclopedia
Mrs Warren's Profession is a play
written by George Bernard Shaw
in 1893. The story centers on the relationship between Mrs Kitty Warren, a brothel
owner, described by the author as "on the whole, a genial and fairly presentable old blackguard of a woman" and her daughter, Vivie. Mrs Warren is a middle-aged woman whose Cambridge
-educated daughter, Vivie, is horrified to discover that her mother's fortune was made managing high-class brothels. The two women make a brief reconciliation when Mrs Warren explains her impoverished youth, which originally led her into prostitution. The reconciliation ends when Vivie learns that the highly profitable business remains in operation. Vivie walks out of her mother's life, apparently for good.
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."
Shaw explained the source of the play in a letter to The Daily Chronicle on 28 April 1898:
The play was originally banned by the Lord Chamberlain
(Britain
's official theatre censor
) because of its frank discussion and portrayal of prostitution
, but was finally first performed on Sunday, January 5, 1902, at London
's New Lyric Club with the distinguished actor-manager Harley Granville-Barker
among the cast. (Members-only clubs have always been a device to avoid the eye of authority, but actors often also use it to invite their fellow-artists to a private showing of a play, usually on Sundays, when theatres are closed to the public.) The first public performance in London took place in 1925.
A performance in New York
, this time on a public stage in 1905, was interrupted by the police who arrested the cast and crew, although it appears only the house manager of the theatre was actually charged. The play has been revived on Broadway five times since, most recently in 2010.
wrote a sequel, a novel entitled Mrs. Warren's Daughter, circa 1922.
BBC Television staged a production under their Play of the Month banner in 1972. Produced by Cedric Messina and Directed by Herbert Wise, it starred Coral Browne
in the title role, with Penelope Wilton
as Vivie. Also in the cast were James Grout
, Robert Powell
, Richard Pearson
and Derek Godfrey
. The production was released on DVD in 2006.
A 1960 German film adaption Mrs. Warren's Profession starring Lilli Palmer
.
A radio adaptation was broadcast on the BBC
in 2002 and re-broadcast in January 2009 on BBC Radio 7 starring Maggie Steed
in the title role.
The play was revived in 2010 in three separate venues:
Throughout the play, the boundary between sexual desires and proposed marriages is blurred; for example, Frank flirts with Mrs. Warren as well as Vivie. Mrs. Warren's companion Sir George Crofts also proposes marriage to Vivie despite his relationship with her mother. Critic Petra Dierkes-Thrun has argued that these examples illustrate the way in which Shaw
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
written by George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
in 1893. The story centers on the relationship between Mrs Kitty Warren, a brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
owner, described by the author as "on the whole, a genial and fairly presentable old blackguard of a woman" and her daughter, Vivie. Mrs Warren is a middle-aged woman whose Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
-educated daughter, Vivie, is horrified to discover that her mother's fortune was made managing high-class brothels. The two women make a brief reconciliation when Mrs Warren explains her impoverished youth, which originally led her into prostitution. The reconciliation ends when Vivie learns that the highly profitable business remains in operation. Vivie walks out of her mother's life, apparently for good.
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."
Shaw explained the source of the play in a letter to The Daily Chronicle on 28 April 1898:
Miss Janet AchurchJanet AchurchJanet Achurch was an English stage actress and actor-manager. She made her London debut in 1883. She played many Shakespearean roles, but is best known as a pioneer of major roles in the works of Ibsen. Perhaps her most notable role was as Nora in A Doll's House...
[an actress and friend of Shaw’s] mentioned to me a novel by some FrenchFrench peopleThe French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
writer [Yvette by Guy de MaupassantGuy de MaupassantHenri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....
] 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 a prize-fighter shows how he was driven into the ring exactly as Mrs. Warren was driven on the streets.
The play was originally banned by the Lord Chamberlain
Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the Great Officers of State....
(Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
's official theatre censor
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
) because of its frank discussion and portrayal of prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, but was finally first performed on Sunday, January 5, 1902, at London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's New Lyric Club with the distinguished actor-manager Harley Granville-Barker
Harley Granville-Barker
Harley Granville-Barker was an English actor-manager, director, producer, critic and playwright....
among the cast. (Members-only clubs have always been a device to avoid the eye of authority, but actors often also use it to invite their fellow-artists to a private showing of a play, usually on Sundays, when theatres are closed to the public.) The first public performance in London took place in 1925.
A performance in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, this time on a public stage in 1905, was interrupted by the police who arrested the cast and crew, although it appears only the house manager of the theatre was actually charged. The play has been revived on Broadway five times since, most recently in 2010.
Adaptations and Sequels
Sir Harry JohnstonHarry Johnston
Sir Henry "Harry" Hamilton Johnston, GCMG, KCB , was a British explorer, botanist, linguist and colonial administrator, one of the key players in the "Scramble for Africa" that occurred at the end of the 19th century....
wrote a sequel, a novel entitled Mrs. Warren's Daughter, circa 1922.
BBC Television staged a production under their Play of the Month banner in 1972. Produced by Cedric Messina and Directed by Herbert Wise, it starred Coral Browne
Coral Browne
Coral Browne was an Australian-American stage and screen actress.-Career:Coral Edith Brown was the only daughter of a restaurant-owner. She and her two brothers were raised in Footscray, a suburb of Melbourne, where she studied at the National Gallery Art School...
in the title role, with Penelope Wilton
Penelope Wilton
Penelope Alice Wilton, OBE is an English actress.-Life and career:Penelope Alice Wilton was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, to a former actress mother and a businessman father. She is a niece of actors Bill Travers and Linden Travers and a cousin of the actor Richard Morant...
as Vivie. Also in the cast were James Grout
James Grout
James Grout is an English actor of radio and television.Grout was born in London, the son of Beatrice Anne and William Grout...
, Robert Powell
Robert Powell
Robert Powell is an English television and film actor, probably most famous for his title role in Jesus of Nazareth and as the fictional secret agent Richard Hannay...
, Richard Pearson
Richard Pearson
Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Lyons Otway Pearson CB was Assistant Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police from 1881 to 1890....
and Derek Godfrey
Derek Godfrey
Derek Godfrey was a British actor who appeared in several films and BBC television dramatizations during the 1960s and 1970s....
. The production was released on DVD in 2006.
A 1960 German film adaption Mrs. Warren's Profession starring Lilli Palmer
Lilli Palmer
Lilli Palmer , born Lilli Marie Peiser, was a German actress. She won the Volpi Cup, the Deutscher Filmpreis three times, and was nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award.-Life and career:...
.
A radio adaptation was broadcast on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in 2002 and re-broadcast in January 2009 on BBC Radio 7 starring Maggie Steed
Maggie Steed
Maggie Steed is an English actress and comedienne.-Youth:After studying drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol, she left the theatre for several years.-Career:...
in the title role.
The play was revived in 2010 in three separate venues:
- London's West End, at the Comedy Theatre with Felicity KendalFelicity KendalFelicity Ann Kendal, CBE is an English actor known for her television and stage work.Born in 1946, Kendal spent much of her childhood in India, where her father managed a touring repertory company. First appearing on stage at the age of nine months, Kendal appeared in her first film, Shakespeare...
in the title role - Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, by the Shakespeare Theatre CompanyShakespeare Theatre CompanyThe Shakespeare Theatre Company is a regional theatre company located in Washington, D.C. Their self professed mission "is to present classic theatre of scope and size in an imaginative, skillful and accessible American style that honors the playwrights’ language and intentions while viewing their...
at Sidney Harman HallSidney Harman HallSidney Harman Hall is a theater located at Sixth and F Streets NW in Washington, D.C. It opened officially on October 1, 2007.Along with the existing Lansburgh Theatre, it comprises the new Harman Center for the Arts, the home of the Shakespeare Theatre Company...
, with Elizabeth AshleyElizabeth AshleyElizabeth Ashley is an American actress who first came to prominence as the ingenue in the Broadway play Take Her, She's Mine, which earned her a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Play.-Early life:...
in the title role - BroadwayBroadway theatreBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the American Airlines TheatreAmerican Airlines TheatreThe American Airlines Theatre is a Broadway theatre, located at 227 West 42nd Street, New York City.-Design:Originally named the Selwyn Theatre, it was constructed by the Selwyn brothers, Edgar and Archie, in 1918. It was one of three theatres they built and controlled on 42nd Street, along with...
under the auspices of the Roundabout Theatre CompanyRoundabout Theatre CompanyThe Roundabout Theatre Company is a leading non-profit theatre company based in New York City.-History:The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist and Elizabeth Owens and now operates five theatres, all in Manhattan: the American Airlines Theatre ; Studio 54 ; the Stephen Sondheim Theatre The...
, with Cherry JonesCherry JonesCherry Jones is an American actress and recipient of the 2009 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series and the 2005 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.-Career:...
as Kitty Warren and Sally HawkinsSally HawkinsSally Cecilia Hawkins is an English actress. Her performance as Poppy in the 2008 film Happy-Go-Lucky won her several international awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy...
as Vivie
The Role of Women in Victorian Marriage and Shaw's Representation of Vivie's Sexuality
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”. Victorian women were expected to maintain a poised and dignified manner, and to be obedient to their husbands' requests. The character Vivie defies the Victorian expectations of an obedient woman. She is educated and entirely self-sufficient. During the play she resists two marriage proposals, reflecting her reliance on her work ethic and hard-headed approach to life. Shaw represents Vivie as being the product of a type of gender reformation. This reformation results in a character who is asexual and "permanently unromantic".Throughout the play, the boundary between sexual desires and proposed marriages is blurred; for example, Frank flirts with Mrs. Warren as well as Vivie. Mrs. Warren's companion Sir George Crofts also proposes marriage to Vivie despite his relationship with her mother. Critic Petra Dierkes-Thrun has argued 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 of male privilege and the deeply entrenched objectification of women, which Shaw saw pervading all levels of Victorian society down to its most basic nuclear element, the family."
External links
- Mrs. Warren's Profession at Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
- Mrs. Warren's Profession on Open Library at the Internet Archive