In Photo: Melinda Lopez, Wesley Savick, Nael Nacer, Evan Taylor, Luz Lopez, Barlow Adamson, Photo by: Nile Scott Studios

Presented by Central Square Theater
By George Bernard Shaw
Directed by Eric Tucker
Featuring Barlow Adamson, Luz Lopez, Melinda Lopez, Nael Nacer, Wesley Savick, Evan Taylor

Central Square Theater
May 29 – June 22, 2025
450 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

Review by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

Cambridge, MA — If there is one theme that director Eric Tucker drives home with his take on George Bernard Shaw’s once-controversial drama, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, it is greed. Scenes of domestic heartbreak play out in a sleek, modern boardroom; children and parents bicker from either end of a lengthy conference table; and overhead, capitalism’s unfeeling gaze surveilles the characters in the form of frenetically changing stock market numbers.

In theory, this modern approach should illuminate aspects of the play that feel trite by 21^st century standards. The mere mention of Mrs. Warren’s profession (spoiler alert: she owns a brothel.) was controversial by late-Victorian standards, but the play’s truly radical nature lies in a question that remains just as pertinent today: Can genuine human connection survive when capitalism renders everything, even the most primal of relationships, merely transactional?

Tucker’s answer to this question is a resounding, borderline cynical, “No.” In this interpretation of the text, Mrs. Warren, her daughter Vivie, and their bumbling male companions never seem to desire human connection, deflating Shaw’s central question before the story even begins. Capitalist greed has long-ago sucked these characters dry of any human warmth, resulting in a two-hour exercise in resignation to a grim status quo.

Tucker, artistic director of Bedlam, is known for his stripped down, physicalized interrogations of classic texts (Bedlam’s St Joan, another Shaw play, changed my life as a young theatre-maker). True to fashion, his staging of Mrs. Warren at Central Square Theater is anti-realist, an attempt to prioritize character relationships over historical accuracy. The cast deliver Shaw’s florid dialogue verbatim, debating the nuances of late-Victorian English social norms while crawling across the conference table or typing away at a MacBook (scenic design by David R. Gammons).

At best, these modern anachronisms deromanticize the story, stripping away the veneer of late-Victorian social niceties to reveal the violent capitalist machine that lies beneath. More often, however, these bold aesthetic choices distract from the deeply human story at the core of the play.

Vivie (Luz Lopez), for instance, is Shaw’s portrayal of a “New Woman”: she goes to college, speaks her mind, and even smokes cigars. In this modernized production, she vapes. At other points, characters flip each other off and throw the f bomb (a bizarre addition, given how the text otherwise seems unchanged from Shaw’s original). Frank (played sadistically by Evan Taylor) has a handgun tucked into his pants at all times, bringing an aura of menace to almost every scene.

The cumulative result is a production that feels empty and cold, at times downright antagonistic.

Between the minimalist setting and lack of physicality (unexpected, for a Tucker production), the performers are left to fend for themselves with Shaw’s verbose text; unfortunately, they are largely out of their depth. I am familiar with this play, but entire minutes went by during which I had no idea what was happening because the actors didn’t seem to understand what they were saying. Performances from the side characters are tonally inconsistent (Nael Nacer is playing a goofball in a farce, while Barlow Adamson is the villain in a melodrama) and Luz Lopez fails to crack open Vivie’s harsh outer shell, resulting in a cast of characters who are difficult to root for.

Melinda Lopez’ nuanced Mrs. Warren is an exception. Mrs. Warren is a profoundly self-centered character, but there is a kernel of truth in her outward professions of care for her daughter, and Lopez manages to tap into this fascinating, contradictory motivation. She is rarely matched by her scene partners, however, so her best work isn’t given the chance to shine.

Ultimately, Tucker’s production strips Mrs. Warren of its humanistic roots, which is particularly odd given Shaw’s original intent with the play: utilizing sympathy as a tool for social change. By penning Mrs. Warren and Vivie as flawed but multidimensional, Shaw rendered the political personal and challenged audiences to reevaluate their preconceptions about sex workers and socially independent women.

On the page, this play remains as radical as ever, but this production is unfortunately missing a core ingredient: heart.

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