Imelda Staunton triumphs again

Garrick Theatre

George Bernard Shaw‘s play was controversial when written because its subject was prostitution and the position of women in society. These days, its points about our patriarchal society are still relevant but Shaw is considered by many to be hectoring and verbose. Director Dominic Cooke has cut the play down to less than two hours with no interval and modernised some aspects., which made many of the reviewers very happy. However, the production is still set in the appropriate period, leaving some critics puzzled by what exactly had been modernised. No reviewer questioned the power of Imelda Staunton‘s acting but most liked her sparring with her stage daughter played by her real life daughter Bessie Carter. The scenes in which the privileged young woman comes to realise the source of her mother’s wealth, and her parent tries to explain the realties of women’s position in society were felt to be the strongest.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

Alexander Cohen of BroadwayWorld loved the play, even in its abridged form: ‘despite the star power and polished performances, it’s Bernard Shaw’s eloquent political prowess that commands the spotlight in this quietly bruising revival.’

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

WhatsOnStage’s Sarah Crompton was impressed: ‘the great virtue of the production is it allows the women to shine. Staunton’s Kitty is a close relation of her Mama Rose, monstrous in her own way, but more understandable and with more pathos…(Carter) brings to the stage an honesty, a clarity of expression and thought.’ She approved the choice of mother and daughter: ‘The result is an extraordinary tour de force that brings the play to vivid and compelling life.’

An anonymous reviewer at Time Out admired the two stars: ‘Carter’s Vivie is the centre of the play, and Carter imbues this unconventional woman with the appropriate mix of modern and traditional sensibilities’. As for her mother, ‘Staunton is too smart, too empathetic an actor to aim to overpower her fellow actors. Her Mrs Warren is a walking contradiction rather than a larger than life archetype…These two-hander scenes are where the real mastery of Staunton’s performance is made apparent. There is so much subtle pain in her voice’. The reviewer remarked contentiously, ‘they don’t make actors as interesting as Staunton anymore.’

The Independent’s Alice Saville approved: ‘Cooke’s pared-back production lets… modernity shine out, scrapping all that tedious late-Victorian stage business of tablecloths and rattling teacups in favour of a simple circle of greenery – ravishingly imagined by designer Chloe Lamford’. She confirmed, ‘Staunton is on tremendous form as this faintly cockney-accented grande dame, a hard head under her fluffy coiffure. “Women have to pretend to feel a great deal that they don’t feel,” she says, to audience murmurs of approval, as she styles sex work for survival as just one of the many moral compromises required by female members of a patriarchal society.’

LondonTheatre‘s Marianka Swain declared, ‘Staunton gives formidable voice to Mrs Warren, the latest in her line of indomitable grafters (from Mama Rose to Dolly Levi). She lends fascinating complexity to a woman who is both victim and perpetrator…Carter is outstanding as the robustly pragmatic Vivie, whose assured sense of self is shattered by a series of revelations’.

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar ‘Both mother and daughter give dignified performances, Staunton the more subtle and formidable with an edge of the dandy while Vivie is plainer and more upright. The play flares fully to life in their duologues but the scenes around them feel filled with extraneous, thinly drawn characters and plot.’

The Times’ Clive Davis had some choice words for Shaw’s words: ‘The torrent of words beats you into submission. Even with a text that has been cut down and clarified by Cooke himself, you still sense Shaw’s hectoring presence.’ He pointed out, ‘Fine actress though she is, Staunton struggles to step out of the great man’s shadow, although it’s intriguing to see her sparring with her real-life daughter, Bessie Carter’

The Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish found ‘Dominic Cooke’s briskly efficient, interval-free revival courts seeming a bit anodyne’. Fortunately, Staunton can ‘still rivet attention with just a glance or a twitch of the shoulders’ and ‘The big scenes between mother and daughter are quietly tremendous, and crackle with a genuine sense of a familial bond without becoming cosy’.

Fiona Mountford in the i was lukewarm: ‘The production offers up occasional moments of huge emotion, all of which come from Staunton’. The Mail’s Patrick Marmion thought, ‘The diminutive yet ferocious Staunton is a mouse that roars. And the Amazonian yet graceful Carter is a gazelle that purrs’, but didn’t approve of the editing, saying Dominic Cooke’s ‘expurgated version occupies safe moral high ground in a production that strips the colour and gaiety from the original.’

Olivia Garrett at Radio Times praised the two stars, ‘The delivery of their duologues is pitch-perfect, lines pinging off one another, and yet, both play with pauses and stillness in a way that feels utterly authentic.’

2 stars ⭑⭑

Tim Bano writing for The Standard was not a fan: ’Cooke’s slimline text and his lavish production turn a remarkably punchy 130-year old play into exactly what you fear an evening of Bernard Shaw might be: worthy and dull’. Even the great Imelda Staunton disappointed him: ‘It’s Staunton doing what she does well, and has done before. Staunch, slightly terrifying. Every line a masterclass in technical precision, in full commitment. And here, it doesn’t work. She’s in a melodrama while everyone around her is in a pleasant garden comedy. She tramples over the humour, the fun, and that means the serious bits don’t stand out.’

The Stage’s Sam Marlowe spent much of her review recounting the plot, often a sign that there is little to say about the production. She did observe, ‘although… Imelda Staunton and Bessie Carter are focused and meticulous as Kitty and Vivie Warren, and while there’s plenty of gristle to chew on here, there’s somehow a lack of bone, blood and, ultimately, heart.’

Critics’ Average Rating: 3.3⭑

Value rating 35 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price)

Mrs Warren’s Profession is at The Open Air Theatre until 16 August 2025. Buy tickets from the theatre here.

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