'Mrs. Warren' stripped of shock value

When the script to George Bernard Shaw's play "Mrs. Warren's Profession" was first released in 1893, it was quickly banned. The drama, which centers upon a daughter's discovery that her mother paid for her educational tuition by prostitution, shocked audiences with its risque portrayal of unconventional female roles. More than 100 years later, award-winning McCarter Theatre artistic director Emily Mann has resurrected the 19th-century drama. The Berlind Theatre production comes off a bit flat, though, as the shock value of the play itself has worn off.

In the 21st century, where women like Samantha from "Sex and the City" and Victory from "Lipstick Jungle" serve as role models for younger generations, the focus of "Mrs. Warren's Profession"on atypical women is overshadowed by Shaw's overriding message that humankind is innately immoral - a depressing, rather than shocking, thought.

"Mrs. Warren's Profession," in addition to its depiction of the relationship between a working gal and her ashamed daughter, comments on the hypocrisy and injustice of family, love, religion, education and money: There is no victor, there is no heart-wrenching romance. The only somewhat upstanding character is Mr. Praed, portrayed by Edward Hibbert, who prides himself in being a man of the arts.

Despite the script's depressing tone, the play is meticulously performed, and I can appreciate that Mann and her staff clearly put a considerable amount of effort into its production. The all-star cast of six, chosen by casting director Laura Stanczyk, is extraordinarily impressive. Suzanne Bertish, who portrays Mrs. Warren, is a modern-day Mrs. Robinson, and Madeleine Hutchins and her daughter, Vivie, portrayed by Madeleine Hutchins, is both vivacious and Kate Winslet pretty. Extra kudos go to set designer Eugene Lee, for the dainty on-stage interiors, and lighting designer Jeff Croiter and sound designer Karin Graybash, for crafting the the dramatizing effects of rain, lightning and smoke.

While walking to my dorm room from Berlind after the play, my mind kept coming back to Mrs. Warren's closing sentiments on sending her daughter to Cambridge. In the final act, Mrs. Warren remarks on the irony of education: She had prostituted herself to pay for Vivie's tuition, but the schooling her daughter receives fosters a pretense of morality that inevitably turns Vivie against her mother, her sole provider. Mrs. Warren essentially ostracizes herself from her kin and is left both alone and sorry.

In the end, Vivie departs from Mrs. Warren as an emotionless, unforgiving college graduate: Cambridge taught Vivie how to solve mathematical equations, but it neglected to instill in her a conception of familial loyalty and compassion. If Vivie is meant to represent the "modern" woman, endowed with a high-level education, what did Shaw intend to say about the importance of school, and, furthermore, how does his message resonate on Princeton's Ivy League campus, a century later? In the end, the initial sardonicism of Shaw's play persists today, but in an entirely different way. Though the shock value has disappeared, the production's time and place might actually render "Mrs. Warren's Profession" relevant in an unsuspecting - and somewhat redeeming - manner. Perhaps the play is more timely than one might initially realize.