Is Handled Well In Ridgefield

By Julie Stern

RIDGEFIELD — Two young women who were sitting at our table at the Ridgefield Theatre Barn’s opening night production of Bernard Shaw’s Mrs Warren’s Profession left after the first act. This is in no way to be taken as a criticism of either the play itself, or the fine interpretation given it by a polished and well directed cast. It was just that they had finally finished what looked like a very large takeout meal from a Mexican restaurant, and so they assumed it was time to go. Judging by their deer in the headlights  confusion at the witty one liners being tossed off by the characters, the complexity of Shavian syntax was a bit beyond them.

I suspect Shaw might have derived a sardonic pleasure from the irony, given that the theme of the play is the subjugation of women by the pressures of an exploitative society.

Point being, while Shaw is actually very funny, his plays go over best with a literate, informed audience. If you’re looking for chick lit or reality TV, this is probably not for you. However, having said that, if you are ready to watch a competent local theater group tackle a classic work of comedy with serious overtones, by all means check out Mrs Warren.

Shaw’s earliest full length play, it was banned in London for the first eight years after he wrote it in 1893, and it wasn’t until the 20th Century rolled around that it was actually performed on a public stage. The reason, of course, was the actual nature of Mrs Warren’s profession, which happened to be a very old one. 

The play deals with the confrontation between two strong, intelligent, opinionated women: Twenty-two year old Vivie Warren, despite having been raised in comfort by servants and governesses hired by her absentee mother, a successful businesswoman, has recently graduated with honors in mathematics from Cambridge University, and aspires to earn her own living as an actuary.

Now her mother, Kitty, has returned to England from her commercial interests abroad, hoping to finally connect with the daughter she has doted on from afar. When Kitty’s powerful but unpleasant business partner, Sir George Crofts, expresses an interest in marrying Vivie, the girl  scornfully repulses his advances.  Angered, he reveals the truth of her origins: she is the illegitimate child of a prostitute.

Rather than be repelled or ashamed of this, Vivie champions her mother, recognizing that Kitty did what she had to do to survive in a world where poor girls had no other options. Kitty is delighted with her daughter’s genuine show of affection, but this is all shattered when Vivie discovers that what had once been the only option for a poor girl, has become a thriving multinational business. In short, Kitty is now exploiting young women in Holland and Austria, just as she was once abused herself.

The stellar performance in this production is given by Judith Kealey as the lusty, tough-minded Kitty, proud of her accomplishments, and sure of her ability to manipulate men, who plays the role so seamlessly it doesn’t seem like acting. You really believe that she is a real person up on stage.

Jenny Gantwerker provides a strong counterweight as the priggish, self-righteous Vivie, who admits that the education she received at Cambridge is so narrow that she knows little of the world. She is determinedly unconventional and unsentimental, vowing that there will be no room in her life for love and romance, and at the same time pathetically innocent.

Richard Zane Ross is smarmily unpleasant as the cynical Sir George, while Stephen Saxton is cheerfully cynical as Frank Gardner,  the ne’er-do-well son of the local rector, who courts Vivie, possibly in hopes of landing a wealthy wife. Patrick Spaulding is comically addled as Frank’s father, the Reverend, whose wild youth led him to be entangled with Mrs Warren in mysterious ways.

The cast is rounded out by Phil Cook as Kitty’s architect-friend Mr Praed, a sweet and gentle man who tries to keep the peace between mother and daughter, and laments Vivie’s hard-hearted resolve to pursue a life totally devoid of sentiment.

The play may be more than a hundred years old, but it is younger — and more accessible — than Shakespeare, and an excellent chance to see some Shaw, which, apart from Pygmalion, rarely makes it to the local boards.

(Performances continue weekends until December 10 at Ridgefield Theater Barn, 10 Halpin Lane in Ridgefield.

See the Enjoy Calendar, in print and online, for ticket, curtain and reservations details.)