Mrs Warren’s Profession at Richmond Theatre

Mrs Warren’s Profession was written by George Bernard Shaw so of course I went to see it. My usual seat Dress Circle A25 was a nicely modest £23.5.

As the image makes clear, the production made much of the casting of real-lift mother and daughter Caroline and Rose Quentin as the mother and daughter in the play, something I had seen done well before with Killing Time at Park Theatre in 2027 with Brigit Forsyth and her daughter Zoe Mills. This play was rather different in that the mother/daughter relationship was not very close (because of Mrs Warren’s Profession) so their real-life relationship mattered less.

While on casting, it is a shame that the Richmond Theatre website lists only four of the six cast members when the two missing actors both had substantial roles and played their parts very well. It was the mix of characters and their relationships that was the heart of the play.

I am sure that Mrs Warren’s Profession was very shocking when first performed in the 1890s but times and attitudes have changed and it is less so now, though some current moral red lines were still stretched and broken.

Deprived of most of its shock value, Mrs Warren’s Profession now relies on its humour more and while there is plenty of that it is not the constant stream that Wilde delivers and some of it seems very obvious today.

All that lead to a thoroughly satisfactory evening which was never exceptional but which was always competent, engaging and entertaining.