Vivie Warren is a woman ahead of her time. Estranged from her wealthy mother, she delights in a glass of whisky, a good detective story, and is determined to carve herself a sparkling legal career in an age ruled by men.
Her mother, however, is a product of that old patriarchal order. Exploiting it has earned Mrs. Warren a fortune and paid for her daughter’s expensive education – but at what cost?
Four-time Olivier Award winner Imelda Staunton (The Crown) joins forces with her real-life daughter Bridgerton’s Bessie Carter for the very first time, reuniting with the extraordinary director Dominic Cooke (Hello, Dolly!, Good) to bring George Bernard Shaw’s incendiary moral classic crashing into the 21st Century.
Well, at the risk of sounding like an ingrate, I’d say Dominic Cooke’s briskly efficient, interval-free revival courts seeming a bit anodyne, especially given the PR promise that Cooke and co are bringing this once contentious, long-banned 1894 work “crashing into the 21st century” (they don’t). That said, few should pass up the opportunity to see Staunton on stage. Even laying aside the fact that she has been the Queen in The Crown, she qualifies as revered acting royalty.
The problem now, of course, is how to make this period piece speak to a modern audience. “Speak” being the operative word, since, like so many of Shaw’s plays, you often feel you are being addressed by a writer who turns every other conversation into an Oxford Union debate. 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.
| 1905 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1907 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1918 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1922 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1958 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 1976 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1985 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 2005 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 2010 | West End |
London Production West End |
| 2010 | Broadway |
Roundabout Revival Broadway |
| 2025 | West End |
West End |
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