[NEOPAL]Berko review: MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION (BECK)

Roy Berko royberko at yahoo.com
Sun Apr 23 07:49:11 PDT 2006


‘MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION’ CHALLENGES CAST AND
AUDIENCE AT BECK

Roy Berko
(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--
Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

Playwright and social critic George Bernard Shaw never
backed away from a battle.  His play, ‘MRS. WARREN’S
PROFESSION’ was written in 1893, published in 1898,
but not performed until 1902 because of British
government censorship.  When a private performance was
finally arranged, it rocked the London theatre. It
was, according to the testimony of the author, ‘like
an earthquake which shocked the foundations of
morality and sent a pallid crowd of critics into the
street shrieking that the pillars of society are
cracking and the ruin of the state was at hand."

What was the fuss all about?    

Mrs. Warren has never disclosed to her Cambridge
graduate daughter, Vivie who Vivie's father is and how
Mrs. Warren earns her money.  During a visit, Vivie is
“accidentally” told that her mother is a member of the
"oldest profession."  Mrs. Warren's confession, "All
we had was our appearance and our turn for pleasing
men" is met with a sympathetic hearing from her
daughter. But after a series of events which challenge
Vivie’s ethical system, she rejects her mother. 

In the most notorious scene of the play, Mrs. Warren
states, “You think that the way you were taught at
school to think right and proper is the way things
really are. But it's not. It's all only a pretense, to
keep the cowardly, slavish, common run of people
quiet. The big people, the clever people, the managing
people, all know it. They do as I do, and think as I
think.  Morality means being a mere drudge, toiling
and moiling early and late for your bare living and
two cheap dresses a year."

Shaw not only examines women, but also men.  Each of
his male characters represents a type: the aesthete
and artist (Mr. Praed), the feckless young man (Frank
Gardner), the unscrupulous capitalist (Sir George
Crofts) and the hypocritical vicar (Reverend Samuel
Gardner).  Shaw's perception of Victorian society
draws all these men as caricatures and all of them are
vile in their own way. 

‘MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION’ was Shaw’s third play and
did much to establish him as a social critic.  He
exposes the weaknesses of the British education
system, the negative treatment of women, the flaws of
religion, the value of determinism, the foibles of
marriage, the questionable value of families, and the
negative effects of capitalism.  These are issues as
relevant today as during Shaw’s time.

Interestingly, after the first World War, when women
started to enter the professions, it became possible
to mount a public showing of "MRS WARREN'S PROFESSION"
without the fear of censorship.   Yet, the play
continues to make certain audience members and some
critics uncomfortable.

British drama and comedy are difficult for American
actors and directors to get exactly right.  The
accents, the pacing, the subtle character developments
necessary to make the plays believable, are often lost
on non-British or Canadian-trained actors.  One only
has to see a Shaw play done at the Shaw Festival in
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada and an American creation
of the same script, to note the difference.  With that
said, Beck’s production, under the direction of Scott
Plate, is a generally acceptable US American creation.


Dorothy Silver, the first lady of Cleveland theatre,
makes Mrs. Warren both believable and a strong
spokesperson for Shaw’s views.  She nicely textures
the role.  The conflict scene between Mrs. Warren and
her daughter is well developed.

Bernadette Clemens is properly uptight as Vivie
Warren.  Though at times her accent seems overly
affected, it helps separate her from her mother, who,
when riled, falls into her historic lower-class
English pronunciation. 

Nick Koesters effectively develops the role of Frank
Gardner, the gambling son of a Reverend, who sees
Vivie as his possible source of financial support.  He
thrusts and paries well with the emotional levels of
the character though at times he seems to be playing
with rather than playing the role.

Though too young for the part (the character was
written to be in his sixties), Jeffrey Grover (Sir
George Crofts) makes for an acceptable cad, but could
have textured the role to create a character that was
more bi-polar--swinging from charming to deceitful. 
Michael Regnier (Mr. Praed) and Reuben Silver
(Reverand Gardner) are believable in their roles
though more textured characterizations could have been
developed to illustrate the conrasting sides of the
men’s personalities.

Shaw, who often draws attention to the pronunciation
of people as the hallmark of their background (think
Liza Dolittle and Henry Higgins in ‘PYGMALION’) would
not have been pleased with some of the accents of the
Beck cast.  The sounds came and went and differed for
no particular reason.

Don McBride’s set design did little to create a “high
class” illusion.  Especially distracting were some of
the poorly restorred chairs whose squeaking often
broke the mood of scenes.  On the other hand, Richard
Ingraham’s selection of music set the proper tone
before the opening curtain and between scenes. 
Jenniver Sparano’s costumes were outstanding and era
correct.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:   Beck’s ‘MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION’
is a creditable production, with some excellent
acting.

‘MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION’ runs through April 30  at
The Beck Center for the Arts’ Studio Theatre.  For
ticket information call 216-521-2540.


Roy Berko's web page can be found at www.royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.

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