Theatre Palisades Highlights Women’s Shifting Role in Society with ‘Mrs. Warren’s Profession’

By ERIKA MARTIN | Reporter

On April 1 at Pierson Playhouse, Theatre Palisades debuted its latest production, “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” which puts forth a commentary on women’s place in society that remains thoroughly modern despite being set in 1906.

Originally written by George Bernard Shaw and directed by Sabrina Ann Lloyd, the play’s title refers to prostitution, the means by which title character Kitty Warren (played by Sue Hardie) secures an education and opportunity for her daughter, Vivie (Jenna Tovey).

But Kitty has kept her profession a secret from Vivie, and as the truth comes out, the driving tension arises from the huge strides made by women between the mother and daughter’s generations. Ultimately, the play offers an understanding of Mrs. Warren’s profession as a grasp for power in a society where the only other option was to be undervalued and overworked in a factory.

The play opens on Vivie, freshly out of Cambridge, in her garden lying on the ground with a book. She is soon interrupted by Mr. Praed (Craig Jessen), a friend of her mother’s who announces her mother is coming to stay and become reacquainted with her daughter.

Vivie is painted as a shockingly modern woman, remarking that she likes working and getting paid for it and is not particularly interested in her availability to suitors.

During college she spent her time smoking, discussing ideas and “never dreamt of going out except for exercise.”

Tovey successful portrays the educated and self-sufficient Vivie as a fiery personality who would not once consider caving to Victorian expectations. She is also thoroughly independent, having been raised without knowing her father and barely knowing her mother.

Vivie’s serene life is abruptly interrupted once the other characters become involved. There’s her mother, who is still trying to hide her profession and the fact that Vivie possibly shares a father (Rev. Samuel Gardner [Ken MacFarlane]) with her fiancé, Frank Gardner (Books Darnell).

There is also her mother’s business partner, Sir George Crofts (Frank Krueger), an entitled middle-class dandy who courts Vivie saying he “pay[s] a lot of money for” what he values.

The drama that ensues highlights the control men tried to exert over women, often robbing them of their agency in society, and the difference in how this could be resisted across generations.

Performances of “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” which runs through May 8, are at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays through Sunday, May 8 at Pierson Playhouse, 941 Temescal Canyon Road. For info and reservations, call 310-454-1970.