Mrs. Warren's Profession, Starring Felicity Kendal, to Play the West End's Comedy Theatre

George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession, starring Felicity Kendal, is set to play the West End’s Comedy Theatre for a 14-week engagement. Directed by Michael Rudman, the production will begin performances on March 16, 2010 and open on March 25, 2010.

In the play, Mrs. Warren’s daughter, Vivie, has never really known much about her mother. A prim young woman, she has enjoyed a comfortable upbringing, a Cambridge education, a generous monthly allowance and now has ambitions to go into law. Is it conceivable that all this privilege and respectability has been financed from the proceeds of the oldest profession? How will Vivie react when she finds out the awful truth about her mother’s ill-gotten gains?

Written in 1894 but banned from performance until the 1920s, Mrs. Warren’s Profession lays bare the rampant hypocrisy of Victorian society and its constrained morals.

Kendal’s most recent stage credits include Happy Days, Amy’s View and The Vortex, all directed by Peter Hall. She appeared opposite Simon Russell Beale in Charlotte Jones’ Humble Boy, directed by John Caird. Most recently she starred in Simon Gray’s The Last Cigarette, directed by Richard Eyre. She has also starred in many long-running television series, including The Good Life; Solo; The Mistress and Rosemary and Thyme.

The cast also includes Mark Tandy as Praed, David Yelland as Crofts, Lucy Briggs-Owen as Vivie, Eric Carte as Reverend Samuel Gardner and Max Bennett as Frank.

Mrs. Warren’s Profession is set to run through June 19, 2010.