Stage Review: Mrs. Warren's Profession

George Bernard Shaw's Victoria-era play Mrs. Warren's Profession, the tamest play about sex ever written, returns to Broadway through the Roundabout Theatre Company. Featuring Broadway star Cherry Jones in the title role, re-teaming with director Doug Hughes after her Tony-winning turn in Doubt , this production falls disappointing short on a number of levels.

Sally Hawkins, making her Broadway debut, also headlines the cast in this production as Vivie Warren; I had the unfortunate opportunity of seeing her understudy, Stephanie Janseen, perform. The play revolves around young Vivie Warren, dealing with her life as a woman coming up in the world, and attempting to understand the root of her mother's profession and wealth. Revealed early in the first act, Mrs. Warren is prostitute, a "secret" that is blatantly obvious due to some of this play's directional choices. Hughes does a disservice to Shaw's brilliant play by pushing all of the plot's subtleties to the forefront, hiding nothing in the strained relationships between each of the characters.

The show is worthwhile for Jones alone, a spectacular actress. However, she gives Mrs. Warren a low-brow Cockney accent. The choice isn't an awful one, but it seems odd; it seems to cheapen Mrs. Warren as a character. Janseen plays Vivie utterly wrong; she's a travesty. In her performance, Janseen spectacularly misses who Vivie truly is. The rest of the supporting cast is fairly strong, highlighted by Adam Driver's hilarious Frank Gardner and Mark Harelik's appropriate smarmy George Crofts.

Mrs. Warren's Profession disappoints because the entire production feels sloppy; it's as if Jones approached Hughes, and Hughes quickly slapped together a rickety staging. It can be a wonderful experience to see a classic Victoria staging, but Hughes botches such a pleasure by making his staging... boring: the set looks ridiculously cheap and underdeveloped, while the costumes are either unpronounced or incredibly garish... until the play's final scene. A thrilling conversation between two hysterical women, the play's closing finally hits its mark as captivating theatre. However, it was all far too little, too late. Mrs. Warren's Profession falls flat, failing to support the weight and majesty of Shaw's play. C