MRS WARREN’S PROFESSION

Garrick Theatre

★★★★★

“A masterfully acted, visually exquisite and morally knotty production”

Dominic Cooke’s production of George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs Warren’s Profession receives a thrillingly sharp and stylish revival that balances moral complexity, aesthetic beauty, and arresting performances. This production proves Shaw can still provoke and entertain, with astonishing relevance.

The draw for many will undoubtedly be the casting of real-life mother and daughter Imelda Staunton and Bessie Carter as Mrs Warren and her on-stage offspring Vivie. Staunton commands the stage with trademark precision and emotional depth, but Carter is just as engaging, proving she’s earned her part – it’s not simply her birth-right. The generational tension between the two characters embodied as well as acted. Staunton, at just five feet tall, brims with flamboyant energy in set and costume designer Chloe Lamford’s jewel-toned Victorian taffeta gowns, while Carter, nearly a foot taller and dressed in sober, neutral and practical outfits, towers above her mother both physically and morally. Their power dynamic is as visual as it is verbal.

The set, a lush English cottage garden constructed on a large central revolve, is a visual treat. Cosmos, foxgloves, and peonies bloom in abundance, creating a dreamlike pastoral idyll that gets slowly dismantled, mirroring the erosion of Vivie’s youthful idealism and naivete as the play progresses. The contemporary lighting design (Jon Clark) casts a soft ethereal glow over the action, contrasting with the period dress and set.

Shaw’s play, written in 1893 but long banned for its subject matter, feels surprisingly fresh and funny. Themes of gender, morality, class, and capitalism ring disturbingly true even now. Vivie is the true protagonist of the play and a woman ahead of her time: Cambridge-educated, fiercely independent, contemptuous of art and romance alike, and with dreams not of marriage but of legal practice. The men around her are bumbling fools like the Reverend Samuel Gardner (Kevin Doyle), talentless-but-charming like his son, Frank (the outrageously charismatic Reuben Joseph), hopelessly romantic and captivated by beauty like Mr Praed (Sid Sagar) or quietly evil like the only true villain Sir Robert Crofts (Robert Glenister).

And what exactly is Mrs Warren’s profession? Shaw never names it outright, and the play dances delicately (though unambiguously) around the truth. When it is revealed to each character, the reactions are telling. It’s not the choices Mrs Warren once made that cause rupture, but her refusal to reject them now. Her justification is pragmatic, even persuasive and it is in the Socratic sparring matches between Staunton and Carter that the production comes alive.

Cooke and cast resist easy moralising. As Brecht once said of Shaw, he excelled in “dislocating our stock associations.” There are no heroes here, only complex individuals navigating a world with too few good options. By the end, Vivie walks away from her mother, her money, and all the compromises that come with it. Yet she doesn’t emerge triumphant. The play closes on a note of quiet devastation. Vivie may have escaped her mother’s shadow, but she remains haunted by the phantoms of the women who could not.

A masterfully acted, visually exquisite and morally knotty production.

MRS WARREN’S PROFESSION

Garrick Theatre

Reviewed on 23rd May 2025

by Amber Woodward

Photography by Johan Persson

Previously reviewed at this venue:

UNICORN | ★★★★ | February 2025

WHY AM I SO SINGLE? | ★★★★ | September 2024

BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF | ★★★ | June 2024

FOR BLACK BOYS … | ★★★★ | March 2024

HAMNET | ★★★ | October 2023

THE CROWN JEWELS | ★★★ | August 2023

ORLANDO | ★★★★ | December 2022

MYRA DUBOIS: DEAD FUNNY | ★★★★ | September 2021

MRS WARREN’S PROFESSION

★★★★

“Walker and Mangan are both wonderful in their roles, giving a natural performance that allows us to believe in everything they say”

The trigger warning in the publicity for Mike Bartlett’s new play, “Unicorn”, states that it ‘contains explicit content and scenes of a sexual nature, which some audience members may find intriguing’. A description that could be applied to the whole play. For it is, indeed, an intriguing and curious affair. Whether it’s an affair of the heart is debatable. ‘Debatable’ being the operative word – the flames of desire are often dowsed by too much discussion. Which is the crux. Bartlett is the master of dialogue and “Unicorn” mixes sharp humour with weighty matters; sometimes dark but lit up by its dazzling one-liners that are timed perfectly, even if the aim is a bit unsure of its target.

Polly (Nicola Walker) is having a drink with one of her writing students, Kate (Erin Doherty). The mutual attraction transcends the age gap and looks set to leap over the lecturer/student divide. The trouble is though, Polly is happily married to Nick (Stephen Mangan), and they share everything. Aha! Why not share the ‘girlfriend’ too. Kate is up for it. Cut to scene two in which Polly broaches the subject with Nick. The spark is supposed to have gone from their marriage, although it is hard to believe as the chemistry and affection between the couple are more than evident in their conversation and body language. Walker and Mangan are both wonderful in their roles, giving a natural performance that allows us to believe in everything they say. Nick is more reticent about the idea of a threesome but is spurred on by Polly’s persuasiveness, which is a neat segue into scene three – one of the highlights in which Nick meets Kate for the first time. Mangan’s beautifully portrayed awkwardness clashes with Doherty’s cheeky, Essex-accented bluntness. Our sympathies lie with the former.

The short scenes are punctuated with riffs of the old music hall song ‘Daisy Daisy (Bicycle Made for Two)’; a neat, tongue in cheek touch. Initially they are light and jazzy, slowly morphing into a more masculine, cockney version until a final punk arrangement points us in the direction of darker territory. Miriam Buether’s simple and stark sets place the action under an umbrella-like, fabric semi-dome. Yet it is the words that always speak louder than the action (a reverse of the old adage). There is very little action and by interval we are starting to wonder where it is all going.

The second act provides the answer, and some unexpected twists too. And with a more pronounced political metaphor leaking into the language the humour takes a bit of a back step. Time has moved forward, and the relationships have taken on a different dynamic. We find ourselves further losing sympathy with the character of Kate – the motif ‘bicycle made for two’ taking on more resonance. Doherty’s intricate portrayal captures this dichotomy excellently; torn between her arrogant, self-imposed right to be considered part of the family but up against decades of intimacy that the couple previously shared without her. It’s hard to fix a third saddle onto the bike.

Bartlett is tackling material that is not necessarily ground-breaking or new. But he does throw a couple of surprises at us. Cleverly constructed with ever-shortening scenes that shrink towards a quite poignant finale, it is nevertheless the execution (with credit to James Macdonald’s able direction) that truly carries the weight. A starry cast, yes, but stellar performances. They make a powerful and seductive threesome that we’d all like to jump into bed with. Metaphorically, of course!

MRS WARREN’S PROFESSION

Garrick Theatre

★★★★★

“A masterfully acted, visually exquisite and morally knotty production”

MRS WARREN’S PROFESSION

Garrick Theatre

Reviewed on 23rd May 2025

by Amber Woodward

Photography by Johan Persson

Previously reviewed at this venue:

MRS WARREN’S PROFESSION

MRS WARREN’S PROFESSION

MRS WARREN’S PROFESSION

UNICORN

Garrick Theatre

★★★★

“Walker and Mangan are both wonderful in their roles, giving a natural performance that allows us to believe in everything they say”

UNICORN

Garrick Theatre

Reviewed on 13th February 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Marc Brenner

Previously reviewed at this venue:

UNICORN

UNICORN

UNICORN

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