Shaw's Corner to host playwright's banned work

A number of George Bernard Shaw's plays have been performed at Shaw's Corner over the years

A play by George Bernard Shaw that was banned on its release 130 years ago will be adapted at the playwright's former home on his birthday.

A "fresh perspective" of Mrs Warren’s Profession will be performed by the theatre company SHAW2020 at Shaw's Corner, Ayot Saint Lawrence, near Welwyn, on 26 and 27 July.

When it was written in 1893, it was banned and when it was first performed in New York in 1905, all the actors and crew were arrested - but later released without charge, director Jonas Cemm said.

"It delves into the complex relationship between mother and daughter and the moral societal expectations of the day and the hypocrisy surrounding prostitution," he said.

The renowned Irish playwright, known for his works Pygmalion and Saint Joan, lived at Shaw's Corner for more than 40 years from 1906.

He died in November 1950 at the age of 94. His ashes were scattered in the gardens.

The Hertfordshire estate is now a National Trust property.

George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950), in the garden of Shaw's Corner, three days before his 90th birthday, 23rd July 1946

But Mr Cemm said the provocative play was "possibly one of his greatest", and was "banned because of the controversy".

The play was later performed for the first time in England in 1925.

'Relevant'

The company said it had changed the timeline of the show to the 1930s "where women continued to struggle against a patriarchal, capitalist society, offset by a sense of twentieth-century empowerment on the horizon".

"Shaw’s biting social commentary and witty observations make this ground-breaking play as relevant today as it has always been," the company added.

Rebecca Whitmore, house manager at Shaw’s Corner, said: "There has been a long tradition of performances in the garden at Shaw's Corner over Bernard Shaw's birthday weekend, dating back to when the great man was still alive and living at his country home."

She said she was "delighted" to be bringing the work "to the lawn at Shaw's Corner on what would have been Shaw's 168th birthday".

The adaptation is sponsored by the Shaw Society and its vice president, Dame Siân Phillips, will be speaking at a fundraiser at the Palladian Church in Ayot on 27th July, ahead of the performance at Shaw’s Corner.

The show will then move to Campus West theatre, Welwyn Garden City, on 28 July.