Mrs. Warrens Profession @ Sidney Harmon Hall

This was a show put on by the Shakespeare Theatre Company at Sidney Harmon Hall across from the Verizon Center. This was our first time at this large and apparently new venue, as our last show was around the corner at the Lansdowne Theatre. Our seats, purchased on tuesday under the $10 plan for 35 and under theatre goers were excellent, in the second row though on the far end of the aisle.

Elizabeth Ashley starred in the production along with several regulars of the company. Reading the resume's of these performers is pretty impressive as a who's who of Actors and shows through the end of the 20th century. We could see in watching this show the germ of the idea of the plot of Mama Mia, though the focus of George Bernard Shaw was definately in another direction. Shaw created an interesting snapshot of the tension between living a "proper" life and what it takes to build the wealth to do so. His particular vice was the sex trade but his point is to equivocate it with all other degradations of the worker's lot in life. Also present is the irony of raising a child to appreciate a life without these degradations necessarily predisposes her to be ashamed of the degradations of the mother that made that life possible.

While Shaw can sometimes be preachy in his dialogue, his own opinions on these issues quite evident, he nevertheless illustrates this theme well, leaving no real easy pat answers. Once again, this company puts on an excellent performance.