Mrs. Warren's Profession (Classic Drama Series) - Softcover

Shaw, George Bernard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1539969509 ISBN 13: 9781539969501

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

Synopsis

The play is a pure tragedy about a permanent and quite plain human problem; the problem is as plain and permanent, the tragedy is as proud and pure, as in ŒDIPUS or MACBETH. — G.K. Chesterton, GEORGE BERNARD SHAW Completed in 1893, Shaw was forced to wait nine years before seeing his work on stage—in a private club. Its subject the Lord Chamberlain declared unsuitable for public performance. Mrs. Warren's profession is that of co-owner and operator of a string of brothels, a profession she has learned from the ground up. The tragedy reveals Mrs. Warren’s path to her seemingly successful present and the resulting emotional confrontation with her daughter, who has discovered the truth of her absentee mother’s past. The playwright’s focus, however, is the reality of Mrs. Warren’s story in the lives of thousands of English women who have chosen prostitution over poverty, abuse, hunger, and exploitation and danger in a dead-end factory job. MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION caused a sensation in 1905 when after a public performance in New York, its cast was arrested and the play was forced to close after one performance for violating city obscenity laws. Twenty years later it was finally performed in public in London.

About this title

About the Author

Norma Jenckes, Ph.D. (Illinois), is Associate Professor of English, University of Cincinnati. Among her books are: Arms and the Man: A Facsimile of the holograph Manuscript (1981) and New Readings in American Drama (2002). She is the founding and continuing editor of American Drama and has published essays on Shaw, Albee, Miller, Williams, Wilson, Lawson, and Odets.

Review

Banned for over 30 years, this cautionary tale ruthlessly dissects Victorian family relationships in all its uncompromising forms voyeuristically witnessing breathtaking snobbery, arrogance, attitudes to lower classes and an unsavoury disposition to money and status... In a world where perception, morality, money and status form the basis of how society frames itself Mrs Warren's Profession is a caustic, revelatory tale of dysfunction. -- Jackie Cobham Daily Telegraph 20090527 The real pleasure of Shaw's play...is just how modern it can feel, whether it is pricking the balloon of morality or hypocrisy --Lyn Gardner Guardian 20091121

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1539969509
• ISBN 13: 9781539969501
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 120