Mrs. Warren’s Profession

Vivie Warren is an optimistic young bluestocking working her way towards social independence and a successful career when she makes a discovery that rocks her world: her comfortable upbringing and expensive education were bankrolled by her mother Kitty’s unorthodox profession. With his verbal mastery and devilish wit, the legendary playwright George Bernard Shaw dissects the precarious and perplexing bond between mother and daughter, as well as the thorny issues of class and privilege and the finer points of moral relativism.

Although written in 1893, Mrs Warren’s Profession was not given a public performance in London until 1925, having been banned for its frank discussion of a taboo topic – but also, one suspects, for its forthright challenge of the Victorian status quo regarding the right of women to pursue social and financial independence.