There are compelling performances in the new George Bernard Shaw revival, but our viewer says the play hasn't aged well.
Having interviewed Imelda Staunton on a couple of occasions, I'm happy to report that she's one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. But she's brilliant at playing formidable women, which makes her ideal for the titular character in George Bernard Shaw's Mrs Warren's Profession - the revival of which she's currently starring in in the West End alongside her daughter Bessie Carter.
Staunton is a commanding presence as the woman made good who owns a chain of brothels across Europe and believes that servicing the needs of men is a preferable to being subservient to them.
As her on-stage daughter Vivie, a whiskey-swilling "modern young woman" who is more interested in becoming a lawyer than someone's wife, Carter towers above her but they're an equal match when it comes to the confrontations that form the meat of Shaw's text.
These real-life family members serve up an acting masterclass, especially in the climactic scene where Vivie is appalled that Mrs. Warren is still a madam and the latter demands respect from the ingrate who gladly took her mother's money to help fund her ambitions.
That said, I don't think the play itself is a great one.
Considered daring when it was written in the 1890s and first performed in 1902, it hasn't aged well.
The theme of exploitation is one that still rings true and sparks fly in the scenes between women of different generations who are determined to forge their own paths in a male-dominated world.
But there are curious lapses in logic, such as Mrs. Warren laughing at the very idea that she should respect her child before insisting on approbation for herself. Why has Vivie only now, at age 22, begun to wonder where all her mother's wealth has come from? And why are the dangers of sex work never addressed?
Director Dominic Cooke skirts over these shortcomings, cutting the play down to an interval-less 100 minutes which actually exacerbates the problem of a bunch of thinly-sketched supporting male characters who seem to have wandered in from a Victorian farce.
The production is visually dreary, with a huge circle of light that hangs above the austere stage like a UFO.
And the tone seems a bit off, resulting in unintended giggles at serious moments, at least at the performance I attended.
Still, when Imelda and Bessie are firing on all cylinders they're the most dynamic of duos who could well find themselves competing against each other come awards season.
Mrs. Warren's Profession is at the Garrick Theatre until 16 August.
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