The Irish Repertory Theatre is extending the run of its production of George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession by three weeks. The mounting, headlined by Dana Ivey, is now scheduled to play off-Broadway through February 19.
Set at the turn of the century, Mrs. Warren's Profession centers on Vivie Warren Laura Odeh, a Cambridge educated and well brought-up young woman, who learns that her mother, Mrs. Kitty Warren Ivey, has risen from abject poverty to enormous wealth through her investments in brothels throughout Europe. While Miss Warren acknowledges her mother's courage and respects her overcoming her past, she fails to agree with her mother's continuing in her line of work.
This staging of Mrs. Warren's Profession, directed by Charlotte Moore, opened on December 18, 2005. In his Broadway.com Review of the production, William Stevenson wrote: "Whenever Ivey is on stage, the play immediately becomes much more involving. Granted, Mrs. Warren is by far the most interesting character. But Ivey, who earned a Tony nomination last season for her scene-stealing turn in The Rivals, makes Kitty multifaceted and ultimately sympathetic…It's a shame that the production is less effective when Ivey isn't working her magic. Odeh and [Sam] Tsoutsouvas' second-act scene together is compelling, but other scenes drag a bit. It doesn't help that Dan Kuchar's sets are so small and insubstantial looking. Despite its flaws, the production does convey Shaw's points about the challenges women faced and the hypocrisy of English society a century ago."
