Shaw Festival 2008 – Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession

Paula Citron
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Mrs. Warren’s Profession
Shaw Festival 2008
Written by George Bernard Shaw
Directed by Jackie Maxwell
Starring Mary Haney, Moya O’Connell, Andew Bunker, Benedict Campbell, David Jansen and Ric Reid
Festival Theatre until Nov. 1
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Jackie Maxwell’s scintillating production of Mrs. Warren’s Profession at the Shaw Festival is Shaw at his best – provocative, troubling, witty and emotional.

Mrs. Warren has provided her only daughter Vivie with a university education through money earned by running brothels. Yet, that very business that has given Vivie her escape route to women’s liberation, becomes an unbridgeable gap between mother and daughter.

Mary Haney as Mrs. Warren and Moya O’Connell as Vivie are simply superb. No one can do vulgar and brassy better than Haney, and O’Connell is one of the most natural actresses to ever grace a stage. As the men in their lives, Benedict Campbell is perfect as the sleazy Sir George Crofts, David Jansen captures the free spirit Praed, while Ric Reid and Andrew Bunker bring prudish Rev. Samuel Gardner and passionate son Frank to vivid life.

This is a run don’t walk.

Mrs. Warren’s Profession continues at the Shaw Festival Theatre until Nov. 1.