Mrs. Warren’s Profession--Briskly Entertaining with a Blithesome Cast

By Joseph Cervelli

As presented by the Gingold Theaterical Group and directed by David Staller at Theatre Row,  George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession has turned into a brisk affair (and no pun attended considering the play does deal with the title character's vocation.

Shaw does have the tendency amidst all his insightful writings about feminism, male privilege and morality to be loquacious to the point of boredom. In other hands this play could be deadly dull, but with Mr. Staller at the helm and a blithesome cast it moves quite swiftly. 

Scenic designer Brian Prather has created a bucolic garden scene in Surrey, England, with flowers adorning the various trellis’s and doorways. We first meet the mathematical whiz Vivie Warren (Nicole King.) While King is sedate in the role she is believable considering her character’s life has been devoted to studies and never really knowing her mother Kitty Warren (a delightfully exuberant Karen Ziemba.) Ms. Ziemba never fails to deliver and she is in high gear here. Vivie is expecting her mother who left her as a child to stay with others while she takes off for Europe in a profession she never reveals to her daughter in all these years. While waiting for her Vivie meets Praed (Alvin Keith) who is a good friend of Kitty’s. Dressed as a fop and effete he is love with all things of beauty and culture. He quickly reminds one of Cecil Vyse in E. M. Forster’s “A Room With a View.” Keith plays it to the hilt. 

The boisterous Kitty enters with her wealthy and somewhat surly Sir George Crofts (an always excellent Robert Cuccioli) who has affections for the young Vivie. He jokingly states he could be her father. There is more to this comment that the young woman could imagine. 

There are two other characters who balance things out. The ne’er-do-well Frank Gardner (David Lee Huynh) who spends his time gambling and tries to woo both ladies knowing they are each worth a considerable amount of money—especially Kitty. Huynh is good although he could take down his enthusiasm a bit. His scampering around is a bit overboard. His father Reverend Samuel Gardner (Raphael Nash Thompson) is the hypocrical male character that Shaw delights in creating.  The Reverend won’t enter a home of someone of dubious character yet we find out exactly how bogus his so-called puritanical behavior really is. Thompson adds humor though he could have displayed more pomposity that I would have expected from  his character. 

The profession in the title, of course, refers to the fact that Kitty started out as a prostitute out of necessity because there were very few opportunities in 1912 for women. She then along with her sister opened a number of brothels which prospered.  It helped having Crofts as a man helping with the investments. Things do not go well when Kitty explains all this to her daughter who has lived a sheltered life. 

The costumes by Asa Benally are appropriately dapper for the men and subdued for Vivie. I would have liked to have seen Kitty's somewhat more embellished. 

The messages of the objectification of women and the plight they were forced to endure comes across loud and clear along with the privileges of men in this especially fine and lucid production.

PHOTOS: Carol Rosegg

Tickets may be purchased at Theater Row 410 West 42nd Street.