National Theatre Live Screening
Mrs. Warren's Profession
Sunday, September 13, 2026 at 3pm
By Bernard Shaw
A Production From: Sonia Friedman Productions Limited
Running Time: 1 hour and 56 minutes. There is no interval.
Mrs. Kitty Warren: Imelda Staunton
Vivie Warren: Bessie Carter
Rev. Samuel Gardner: Kevin Doyle
Sir George Crofts: Robert Glenister
Frank Gardner: Reuben Joseph
Mr. Praed: Sid Sagar
Ensemble: Liz Izen, Lizzie Schenk, Michelle Hanks, Abbie-Marie Howe, Kabira Imona, Karen McCaffrey, Marusia Makhmutova, Carlotta Mastracchi, Alessandra Michelucci-Dunn, Emma Riches
Director: Dominic Cooke
Set and Costume Designer: Chloe Lamford
Lighting Designer: Jon Clark
Sound Designer: Christopher Shutt
Composer: Angus MacRae
Casting Director: Amy Ball CDG
Screen Director: Tim Van Someren
Lighting Director: Gemma O’Sullivan
Sound Supervisor: Conrad Fletcher
Script Supervisor: Emma Ramsay
an excerpt from the Mrs. Warren’s Profession program, with thanks to Nimax Theatres.
Mrs. Warren’s Profession had a particularly difficult birth — not altogether surprising given Shaw’s exploration of the links between sex and society. There was no question of the play being granted a license by the Lord Chamberlain, who, until the abolition of theatrical censorship in 1968, enjoyed the power to prohibit public performance.
What is saddening, however, is to see how even Shaw’s champions turned against him over Mrs. Warren’s Profession. J. T. Grein was a visionary Dutchman who set up the Independent Theatre Company to give private performances of unlicensed plays. […] Mrs. Warren’s Profession, however, was a step too far even for Grein, and the play had to wait until 1902 to be given two private performances by the Stage Society.
Mrs. Warren’s Profession had to wait until 1925 to receive its first public performance in England. […] Since then, Shaw’s play has become an established part of the repertory. Ronald Eyre staged it for the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic in 1970 with a fine cast headed by Coral Browne. A second National Theatre production followed in 1985 directed by Anthony Page with Joan Plowright and Jessica Turner as mother and daughter.
Mrs. Warren’s Profession is one of the three plays Bernard Shaw published as Plays Unpleasant in 1898, alongside The Philanderer and Widowers’ Houses. It was meant to challenge audiences morally and socially, rather than simply entertain.
Sonia Friedman Productions (SFP) is one of the most prolific and influential theatre companies in the world. Since beginning in 2002, SFP has developed, initiated and produced over 270 productions worldwide, winning 63 Olivier Awards, 61 Tony Awards and 3 BAFTAs.
Led by Sonia Friedman CBE, who this year was named one of Vogue’s 25 most influential women working today and previously included in TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, SFP has developed and delivered an unparalleled body of work across the West End, Broadway and beyond, helping to redefine the theatrical landscape.
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