Keene State Presents a Shaw Classic
KEENE, N.H. 2/8/06 - The Keene State Theatre department will present G. Bernard Shaw’s play Mrs. Warren’s Profession at 7:30 p.m. from Tuesday through Saturday, Feb. 28-March 4, with a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday, March 4, in the Wright Theatre of the Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond.
Tickets are $7 for the general public, $5 for senior citizens, youth 17 or younger, and KSC students. Call the box office at 603-358-2168.
PeggyRae Johnson directs the comedic, once-censored play set in Victorian England. The story centers on Mrs. Warren, a worldly, financially successful prostitute and partner in a brothel franchise, and her daughter, Vivie, a college-educated, “modern” woman of ambition.
When Vivie learns of her mother’s profession, the exploration of modern versus traditional and correct versus necessary begins.
Mrs. Warren’s Profession is a humorous, yet unsentimental, examination of not only prostitution, but also of society’s attitudes toward women. It was precisely this unflinching style toward “obscene” subject matter that got the play censored for years after its publication in 1894. Johnson and theatre faculty chose this play because of its complex, thought-provoking characters and dialogue. This year also happens to be the 150th anniversary of Shaw’s birth, so choosing one of his most controversial plays seemed a fitting tribute.
Another fitting tribute is the casting of the main character: Lindsay Bartlett, an alumna of KSC’s theatre department, will play Mrs. Warren. Johnson says this decision was made in part as homage to the 25th anniversary of the Redfern Arts Center. However, Bartlett’s own previous theatrical experience and talent with accents allow her to believably portray the titular character. Current Keene State theatre students Ned Braley, Eben Gannett, Evan Lidestri, Johanna Macri, and Michael Soldati round out the rest of the cast.
Johnson stresses that even though this play shines a scathing spotlight on society’s hypocrisy in its treatment of women, “it’s also quite humorous!” Her admiration for Shaw’s writing style in general and Mrs. Warren’s Profession in particular, she says, is because it “opens conversation without a lecture.” She is confident that audiences will leave the performances talking about the big issues that face society today as much as when the play was written.
