Mrs. Warren's Profession Starts Previews Tonight- Page 3

[mallardo]

Posted: 9/10/10 at 12:51pm

- POSSIBLE SPOILERS -

wonkit, a socialist tract would have retained sympathy for the working class Mrs. Warren to the end. The fact that Shaw shows her as corrupted and ultimately rejected, tells me that he was a dramatist first and a socialist second. The points about prostitution and the exploitation of women were simply facts that didn't require a socialist disposition to see. And unless you equate feminism with socialism I don't get your issues with Vivie.

I know very well what Shaw's opinions were. I'm rejecting your agit-prop word "tract".

[wonkit]

Posted: 9/10/10 at 4:37pm

- SPOILERS - you'd think this was SPIDERMAN!! -

mallardo - I don't have any "problems" with Vivie so you kind of lost me there. But Shaw was proud of his Socialism. Shaw wrote, about his PLAYS UNPLEASANT, "I had no taste for what is called popular art, no respect for popular morality. ... I was a Socialist, detesting our anarchical scrambling for money, and believing in equality as the only possible permanent basis of social organization." He does maintain sympathy for the working classes, in the person of Vivie who supports herself without relying on the capital of idle rich old men like Crofts. Vivie doesn't see her mother as corrupt - she sees her as just as exploited as the poor girls in the lead factories and temperance hotels. Only healthier.

I am not saying the play IS a Socialist tract (Shaw wrote his share of those outright) but there isn't a dramatic word of his that isn't infused with his social outrage. AND I'm not saying it isn't good theater - I'm saying it's heavy going at times. Noel Coward he most assuredly ain't.

[mallardo]

Posted: 9/11/10 at 4:03am

wonkit, I appreciate your articulate and informed responses. I think we're probably in general agreement. It was just that word "tract". Maybe I shouldn't be so sensitive.

[wonkit]

Posted: 9/11/10 at 9:16am

Thanks, mallardo. Little did I realize what a powerful little word it was!

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 9/15/10 at 8:53pm

Can someone descirbe the curtain or post a picture? I am very curious now.

[WayTooBroadway]

Posted: 9/16/10 at 3:49am

http://www.myroundaboutblog.com/?p=2270

Scott Pask describes the curtain in question...

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 9/16/10 at 8:33pm

Thanks WayTooBroadway! Very interesting article :)

[ZiggyCringe]

Posted: 9/17/10 at 4:37am

Mrs. Lovett's Profession?

What a CRUSHING bore that play was. It was typical Roundabout: Interesting cast, crap show.

Strangely enough, there was a Playbill interview with Jones, where she said the only reason she was doing this Shaw play was because Alison Pill was going to play opposite her. Pill apparently got a film, and Sally Hawkins replaced her.

Hawkins wasn't bad. But Doug Hughes' direction was so dull, that the play disappeared entirely. Edward Hibbert was trying his best, but he had nothing to work with.

And I love Cherry Jones. But her Mrs. Warren was a complete mistake.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/18/10 at 5:55pm

Just got back from a matinee and found it to be a near miss. Sometimes the elements of something just seem so right you go in expecting real magic.

Largely the problem is Doug Hughes' laid-back, tension-free staging. The big problem of Shaw's play is that it doesn't really start cooking until the end of the first act and all before that is quite talky and lacking flavor. But still, I think energetic direction and a tight ensemble could overcome these issues. Hughes can't quite bring the former and doesn't have the latter. This is one of those period productions where everyones approach seems to be at odds with the other. Jones has brilliant moments, but her Pioneer woman American-ness is an ill fit here and, while I didn't have trouble understanding her, the accent was in and out and sometimes not there at all. She seems to have stepped out of DESTRY RIDES AGAIN. Hawkins is an even bigger problem, ranging between dull, twitchy and histrionic she seems cut off from the rest of the cast altogether. The play is all about what to do with Vivie and Hawkins just really doesn't seem worth it. Mark Harelik has some nice moments, but Edward Hibbert is really the only cast member who hits the bullseye. Had the cast found a mutual approach the relationships of the first act wouldn't have seemed so nebulous and could have overcome the lack of tension in Shaw's writing.

Still, even mismatched actors and stiff staging can't diminish the power of Shaw's writing at the end of each act. Suddenly the writing catches fire and you're riveted. For my money, these scenes are some of the most compelling Shaw ever wrote.

So...a mixed afternoon. Hardly a disaster but not the home run its pedigree suggests.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/18/10 at 6:23pm

Funny, I found Hibbert to be acting in another production.

That said, it's far from a Roundabout disaster, but it's still boring as hell. Lacks any sort of tension. Jones tries, God bless her, but can't do it. Hawkins is quite good. Harelik wins.

[brightasyellow]

Posted: 9/25/10 at 1:52pm

Saw this last night. I had, thanks to a poster on this board, read the play beforehand. I thought both Cherry Jones and Sally Hawkins did an amazing job. After reading the play, their characterizations were perfect. As for the changing accents, Jones' change in accent is intentional. In the play, the directions call for her to revert back to her lower-class accent.

I found Adam Driver's performance pretty bad. Frank is supposed to be a cad and yet for the entire first two acts, he gave a monotone performance. He improved in the last two acts, but he was the noticeable weak link. I thought Edward Hibbert did great with Mr. Praed and really brought him to life. The men are written fairly one note as Shaw wanted this play to be about women.

As for the stage door, I only saw Michael Siberry, Adam Driver and Sally Hawkins. Sally is absolutely the sweetest thing ever and talked to me quite a bit.

[wexy]

Posted: 9/25/10 at 3:47pm

I saw it last night. I was bored. Might've been because I was tired but I didn't really care what happened to any of the characters anyways.

(and this was really strange, when someone mentioned "Winchester Cathedral" the song which I haven't heard of in 30+ plus years popped into my head. And it wouldn't go away).

Updated On: 9/25/10 at 03:47 PM