Mrs. Warren's Profession

For the 1960 German film adaptation, see Mrs. Warren's Profession (film).

Mrs. Warren's Profession
Photographs from the 1918 production of Mrs. Warren's Profession, directed by and starring Mary Shaw (pictured in the two lower frames).
Written byGeorge Bernard Shaw
Date premieredStage Society, 5 January 1902 (private)
Place premieredNew Lyric Club
Original languageEnglish
SubjectThe madam of a string of brothels justifies her career to her daughter
GenreProblem play
SettingA cottage at Haslemere, Surrey
Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Mrs. Warren's Profession is a play written by George Bernard Shaw in 1893, and first performed in London in 1902. It is one of the three plays Shaw published as Plays Unpleasant in 1898, alongside The Philanderer and Widowers' Houses. The play is about a former prostitute, now a madam (brothel proprietor), who attempts to come to terms with her disapproving daughter. It is a problem play, offering social commentary to illustrate the idea that the act of prostitution was not caused by moral failure but by economic necessity. Elements of the play were borrowed from Shaw's 1882 novel Cashel Byron's Profession, about a man who becomes a boxer due to limited employment opportunities.