George Bernard Shaw’s 1893 play Mrs Warren’s Profession is a bit of a mouthful. For the current production at the Garrick Theatre, the creative team trimmed the text, but it still feels a touch too long. That said, its core themes—sex work, limited opportunities for women, institutional hypocrisy—remain relevant in 2025. And when the cast is this good, you almost don’t mind the extra speeches.
The play follows Vivie Warren, a fiercely independent young woman who discovers that her education and comfortable life were funded by her mother’s career managing a chain of brothels. What begins as a family reunion quickly turns into a clash of values: Vivie’s worldview collides with her mother’s defence of the choices she had to make in a society that gave women very few. Shaw doesn’t offer easy resolutions—just moral ambiguity wrapped in Victorian lace.
Imelda Staunton and her real-life daughter Bessie Carter play mother and daughter on stage, and their dynamic is electric. Every role is perfectly cast, every line delivered with precision. Not a false note, not an awkward pause—just fine, disciplined acting. And the supporting cast feels airtight. Kevin Doyle (Mr Molesley from Downton Abbey) nearly stole the show for me. A masterclass from start to finish.
👍👎
Mrs Warren’s Profession
Garrick Theatre, London
Written by George Bernard Shaw
Directed by Dominic Cooke
Set & costumes: Chloe Lamford
Cast: Imelda Staunton, Bessie Carter, Kevin Doyle, Robert Glenister, Sid Sagar, Reuben Joseph
Elia Kabanov is a science writer covering the past, present and future of technology (@metkere).
Illustration by Elia Kabanov feat. DALL-E.
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