Theatre
Mrs Warren’s Profession
Manoel Theatre

Victorian women were the victims of many double standards which eventually were to set the ball rolling as the reasons for emancipation in the 20th century. George Bernard Shaw explored the moral and social implications of the age-old profession in his play Mrs Warren’s Profession produced by MADC over the last two weekends.

Initially highly controversial and banned on the British stage, when it was first written in the late 1890s, the main driving force of the play was the analysis of what it was exactly that women prostituted apart from their bodies – was it their virtue, their integrity, their self-respect?

And if it was, what drove them to it? Mrs Kitty Warren at once justifies this to herself and to her daughter Vivie, but later her more mercenary nature emerges and changes Vivie’s mind.

Isabel Warrington’s strong portrayal of Mrs Warren as the no-nonsense, ruthless madam who turned brothels into high-class European enterprises was spot on in her interpretation, if a tad shrill at times in her delivery. Her demeanour as a social climber could not be quite masked by her material refinements and the money she so generously bestowed on her expensively educated daughter, Vivie, interpreted by an excellent Simone Spiteri. The entire play was written as a character study and an exploration of how two independent Victorian women, could be related, yet so different and at the same time relatable. Mrs Warren’s one saving grace is that she has kept her daughter away from her sordid world and raised her to be the ideal example of the emerging “modern woman” – free thinking, well-educated, respected and self-sufficient.

When Vivie finds out the truth behind her mother’s business from no other than her mother’s business partner, Sir George Crofts, who makes her a marriage proposal while making no secret about having, at some point, philandered with her mother; Vivie is doubly shocked at her mother’s calm dealing with all this, however, she relents and almost reaches a reconciliation with Mrs Warren, after the latter explains the terrible circumstances which led her down the path of prostitution. The complete exploitation of women in the workforce and the austere social conditions which plagued the working class were indeed awful and Shaw clearly wanted to expose this. However, what he also wanted to deal with was the final motivation which drove Mrs Warren to carry on developing and expanding her clearly lucrative business even after she was comfortably off and settled for life. Barry Calvert’s Crofts was as mercenary and money-driven as they come and in terms of matching Mrs Warren’s business acumen, he played his part very nicely. Just as nicely as Andrew Galea pulled off young Frank Gardner, Vivie’s friend and supposed love interest, who portrayed the typical young Victorian gentleman of leisure – well-dressed, self-confident relatively well-educated and of course, blissfully unemployed, creating a stark contrast with Vivie’s hard-working approach to life. He is, just like the rest of the male characters, rather difficult to pin down in terms of audience relatability. He comes across as endearing while being an insufferable product of his time and turns out to be Vivie’s younger half brother, after it is revealed that Vivie is the result of his father, ironically the Reverend Gardner’s, choice to sow his wild oats in Mrs Warren’s company. Chris Hudson’s well-constructed Reverend Gardner was the one character who exposed the double standards of Victorian society through his often darkly humorous scenes and proved that the only relatively decent man in the play was Colin Willis’ likeable Mr Pread, an architect and friend of Mrs Warren’s who tries to tread the fine line between business and decency while balancing friendship with the added benefits he can get out of his dealings with the Warrens.

With several period sets by Peter Howitt, which transitioned smoothly from one scene to another, and a good choice of wardrobe, director Joyce Grech did well in pulling together the elements that gave this 19th-century play its character as a performance, just as much as the strong cast channelled the interpretation of their roles in this highly character-driven production. Making it a very thought provoking piece of theatre which did not pander to the audience’s desire for a happy ending but left us with a much more realist approach when Vivie chooses to part ways with her mother after she finds out that Mrs Warren’s lust for money has consumed any shred of dignity she has left. On the other hand, Mrs Warren’s dilemma at being caught in her dubious moral position was not downplayed at all, leaving us wondering whether it is just circumstance that can justify such a career choice, especially in our contemporary cut-throat world.