Mrs Warren's Profession at the Irish Repertory Theatre

The Irish Repertory Theatre presents Mrs Warren's Profession, by George Bernard Shaw and starring Dana Iveyas, opening at the Irish Repertory Theatre on the 18 Dec 2005, following previews from the 9 Dec and running through to the 29 Jan 2006.

Mrs Warren's Profession: At the turn of the century, Vivie Warren, a Cambridge educated and well brought-up young woman, learns that her mother, Mrs. Kitty Warren, has risen from abject poverty to enormous wealth through her investments in brothels throughout Europe. While Miss Warren acknowledges her mothers courage and respects her overcoming her past, she fails to agree with her mothers continuing in her line of work.

The cast for Mrs Warren's Profession, directed by Charlotte Moore, is lead by Dana Ivey who recently received a Tony Nomination for her role as Mrs. Kitty Warren in The Rivals. Her Broadway credits include Heartbreak House, Last Night of Ballyhoo (Drama Desk Award),Sunday In The Park With George.

The cast also includes Laura Odeh (Vivie), David Staller (Mr. Praed), Sam Tsoutsouvas (Sir George Crofts), Kevin Collins (Frank Gardner) and Kenneth Garner (Reverend Samuel Gardner).

Mrs Warren's Profession has sets by Dan Kuchar, costumes by David Toser, lighting by Mary Jo Dondlinger and sound by Murmod, Inc.

Mrs Warren's Profession was written by George Bernard Shaw in 1894, but was prevented from any production until January 1902 at London's New Lyric Club. The play's American debut was in 1905 in New Haven but was closed and banned after only one performance. It subsequently transferred to Broadway's Garrick Theatre where it opened on October 30, 1905 to a sold-out audience, but was soon closed there as well and the cast was cited for "disorderly conduct."

Shaw wrote in 'Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant', Mrs Warren's Profession was written to draw attention to the truth that prostitution is caused, not by female depravity and male licentiousness, but simply by underpaying, undervaluing and overworking women so shamefully that the poorest of them are forced to resort to prostitution... No normal woman would be a professional prostitute if she could better herself by being respectable, nor marry for money if she could afford to marry for love." Shaw won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925.