Mrs. Warren's Profession

‘An extraordinary tour de force… vivid and compelling… Dominic Cooke has shaved and sharpened Shaw’s original to make its theme of hypocrisy all the clearer. Everything has been pared away to shine the spotlight on the essential dilemmas, and to leave the audience to decide where outrage should lie… it is surprisingly upsetting’

* WhatsOnStage *

‘Explosive… if Victorians were shocked by the theme of sex work, the play’s ideological grenades about the corruptions of capitalism and establishment hypocrisies still resonate today… nuanced and full of intellectual restlessness… Shaw’s arguments still hold a grip’

* Guardian *

‘Classy… quietly tremendous… conveys the age-old tussle between parent and child and crystalises the ethical wrench between improving one’s lot and not hurting others’

* Telegraph *

‘Shaw’s critiques of capitalism here feel all too relevant… he writes women who think and debate as they’d never been allowed to on stage before… Cooke’s pared-back production lets that modernity shine out’

* Independent *

‘Startlingly fresh and unexpectedly entertaining… feels bracingly current even today’

* Time Out *

‘Incendiary… Dominic Cooke’s streamlined adaptation strips away excess babble and channels Shaw’s drama with the white-knuckle force of Greek tragedy… Mrs Warren lives in us all’

* Broadway World *

‘Lean and startlingly radical’

* London Theatre *

‘Fascinating… sharp and clever… a stinging social critique that continues to resound strongly today’

* iPaper *

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), who preferred to be known as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1913) and Saint Joan (1923). He was the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Dominic Cooke is an acclaimed theatre director and the incoming Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre, London, from 2026. He was Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre, 2007-13.

Cooke is the author of plays including Arabian Nights (Young Vic, London, 1998; revised version for the Royal Shakespeare Company, 2009), an adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts & Crosses (RSC, 2007) and a version of Bernard Shaw’s Mrs Warren’s Profession (West End, 2025).

On screen, he has directed two features films, On Chesil Beach (2017) and The Courier (2020), as well as three episodes of The Hollow Crown for television.

He was awarded a CBE in 2014 for services to drama.

Author photo by Alamy