Theatre Review - Mrs Warren's Profession - Sydney Theatre Company 2013 Season

Helen Thomson as Mrs Warren

The Sydney Theatre Company have returned with an additional series of performances of George Bernard Shaw's 'Mrs Warren's Profession'  following the season sell-out earlier this year. The play received rapturous reviews and accolades but what was all the fuss about ?

Bernard Shaw's play is centred on the relationship between Vivie Warren (Lizzie Schebesta) a young, fiercely independent minded 19th Century bluestocking woman working her way to a successful career and her mother, Kitty Warren (Helen Thomson) who has bankrolled her daughter's expensive education via her unorthodox profession. Vivie's world and perceptions are turned upside down when she discovers her mother is a brothel owner and operator across Europe. Their relationship breaks down as the strong-minded daughter is quite unforgiving of her mother's commercial activities. Add to the mix a collection of various male bon vivants with class and privilege perspectives and the scene is set for the collapse of Vivie and Kitty's relationship. The play has an expert cast most notably with Lizze Schebesta and Helen Thomson however even with Bernard Shaw's sharp wit, the play has dated in its social observations (it was written in 1893), customs and practice. It could well be that a competently written play staged by STC has become such a novelty following flat seasons and financial loss-making years that its a stand-out.