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Banned
for 25 years, Shaw's Mrs Warren's Profession is a
sharp and witty morality play that looks at sexual liberation, hypocrisy
and self-delusion. Therefore, it obviously still has resonance today
and poses uncomfortable questions to a modern audience.
Mrs
Warren is a charming, bordello Madam (prostitute to you and me!)
contained in a decidedly vulgar but, at the same time, respectable
Victorian veneer.
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| Hannah
Yelland plays Vivie Warren |
Her
daughter Vivie is a Cambridge educated, feisty young woman of high
principle and low tolerance. Unknown to Vivie, her generous monthly
allowance and privileged position both depend on the success of
her mother's trade.
But
it is not until the mother and daughter confront each other from
their opposite philosophical platforms, that things begin to fall
apart.
In
Peter Hall's latest production, the part of Vivie is played by Hannah
Yelland. She explained some of the challenges of portraying the
character.
"Like
most actresses I take my approach from what's given in the text"
she says, "but I was quite worried that she [Vivie] would be
seen as unsympathetic because she's quite ruthless."
"I
wanted to make her sympathetic" she continues. "And I
think this is easier to do these days because of the idea of the
New Woman. It's now easier to make something of yourself and be
more independent."
The
character of Vivie is often seen as somewhat prudish but is also
sometimes seen as a feminist. Hannah sees both traits.
"I
think that she is prudish but not in a boring way" she says.
"She is also a feminist but in its earliest form. I don't think
she knows it though, she just knows what she wants. She can therefore
be sympathetic to the audience as we all have dreams and ideas."
"I
also wanted to get across how she had been neglected by her mother
and how her mother's way of life affected her" she continues.
"She is asked to do her duty as a daughter when her mother
hasn't done her duty as a mother, so there are all sorts of layers
of hypocrisy to unravel."
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| Twiggy
plays Mrs Warren |
Hannah
says that the production is helped by having a wonderful cast. "They
are great" she says.
The
part of Mrs Warren is played by Twiggy, with whom Hannah gets on
particularly well.
"She's
wonderful and a really lovely person" explains Hannah. "She's
very down to earth and we get on really well. We're having a real
ball on tour."
Mrs
Warren's Profession was written over 100 years ago and deals with
the double standards of Victorian society. And if that immediately
makes you switch off and think that's not for me then think again.
Because times may change but human nature doesn't.
The
young playwright Shaw wanted to draw attention to the fact that
prostitution was caused by underpaying and overworking women, not
by female depravity or male licentiousness.
He
wanted to place the guilt on the system rather than the people and
expose the hypocrisy of society. A theme that many people still
find relevant today. Hannah agrees:
"All
the concepts in the play are universal and timeless which is why
it still works well today" she says. "There's the corrupt
character Crofts who gains from his exploitation and it is this
exploitation that is still relevant to today and translates well
to this day and age."
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| Hannah
Yelland with Twiggy in Mrs Warren's Profession |
"The
other timeless concept is that of relationships, in particular the
mother daughter relationship and what is owed and not owed"
she continues.
"I
wanted to bring through the humanity of the character, and what
you have to do to survive and how that affects your relationships."
In
this production, Sir Peter Hall lends his extensive experience to
bring out the charms and nuances contained within Shaw's script
but he was also particularly interested in re-staging a play that
had been banned.
"He
was interested by the censorship issue and we discussed this a lot
in rehearsal" explains Hannah.
"One
of the great ironies was that Shaw never wrote the word prostitution
in the play, so he couldn't cut it when he was asked to" she
explains. "It must have been very upsetting for him as a young
playwright to have it banned."
That
may be so, but the publicity probably didn't do him too much harm
either!
And
the fact that the trade is never actually mentioned by name but
that the audience still knows what the play is talking about is
a sad indictment of how Victorian society actually worked.
Nobody
mentioned the bad things that happened, they were all hidden under
a veneer of purity and respectability. And it was up to people like
Shaw to expose this hypocrisy.
Hannah
also pays tribute to Hall's overall vision. "It's really beautiful
to look at" she says. "And it's done as simply as possible."
In
fact, the setting of the play is one of the key elements used to
drum the point home. The play opens on an idyllic setting with everybody
having a nice tea, but this is one of Shaw's ploys. He creates a
pleasant setting in which to introduce some unpleasant facts.
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|
Mrs Warren and the Rev Sam Gardner |
"It
turns from a fun social comedy to something a lot darker" explains
Hannah. "But the clever thing about it is that he does it so
gradually that you don't notice straight away. People end up shocked."
However,
Hannah is quick to point out that it's not a night of doom and gloom.
"It's
a great night out" she says, "It's a very funny play as
well in the way that it sends itself up. It's very wittily written
so has something for everyone even if they don't take on its morality."
Mrs
Warren's Profession is at Milton Keynes Theatre from 21-26 July.
Along
with Hannah and Twiggy, the cast includes Jeremy Clyde as the lecherous
George Crofts, Mike Burnside as the pretentious Reverend Sam Gardner,
through whom the double standards of Victorian society are exposed,
Ryan Kiggell as the hopeless but clever fop Frank and Benedick Blythe
as the elegant adult-boy Praed.
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