Mrs Warren's Profession Tickets

This March, audiences get the opportunity to revisit the damning themes of hypocritical Victorian values as “Mrs Warren’s Profession” makes its way to the Comedy Theatre following a successful run at the Theatre Royal Bath.

The show is a look at the mother-daughter relationship in this 19th century setting as a woman realises a shocking secret about her mother’s hidden life, forcing her to look at her own upbringing in a different light. Her mother is played by stage and screen legend Felicity Kendal, who reprises her role from the Bath production that ran in 2009, hoping to bring new life to the role from March.

Kendal has been a regular player in the West End for the last few years, with her last appearance taking the form of “The Last Cigarette”, the stage adaptation of Simon Gray’s memoirs, in 2009. She was also seen in “The Vortex” in 2008, “Amy’s View” in 2006 and “The Humble Boy” in 2002, with a string of plays in the 1980s and 1990s that mirrored her close professional relationship with playwright Tom Stoppard, appearing in his shows “The Real Thing” in 1982, “Arcadia” in 1993 and “Indian Ink” in 1995.

But the star of television shows like “The Good Life”, “Rosemary & Thyme” and “The Mistress” will be stepping into an iconic character from the library of George Bernard Shaw when she portrays Mrs Warren in the upcoming show. In it, her daughter Vivie has led a comfortable existence from her mother’s money; attending Cambridge University and receiving a regular income at her expense. But she has never really known her mother and whilst she sets her sights on a career in the legal sector she realises that her entire life might have been funded by her mother’s less-than-respectable career.

The play was penned in 1894 by Shaw during a time when Lord Chamberlain imposed strict laws on stage productions, meaning it was banned for the first few decades of its life. As a result, a production of the play shortly after its completion saw many arrests and it was not until the 1920s that an official, legal, premiere of the play took place.

No such problems face the production in the modern day though and “Mrs Warren’s Profession” is set to appear at the Comedy Theatre from Thursday 25th March 2010 (previews from Tuesday 16th March 2010) to Saturday 19th June 2010.