By Coral Gables Gazette staff
Coral Gables Art Cinema will present a new National Theatre Live production of Mrs. Warren’s Profession from Friday, Dec. 19 through Sunday, Dec. 21, offering local audiences the chance to experience one of George Bernard Shaw’s most provocative plays as it was staged in London’s West End earlier this year.
Filmed live for cinema presentation, the production brings together acclaimed British actor Imelda Staunton and her daughter Bessie Carter, who appear together on stage for the first time as mother and daughter. The screening continues the cinema’s ongoing partnership with National Theatre Live, a program that delivers major British theatrical productions to cinemas worldwide.
A play about morality, power and independence
First performed in 1902, Mrs. Warren’s Profession remains one of Shaw’s most challenging works. The play centers on Vivie Warren, an educated and forward-thinking young woman determined to chart her own course, and her mother Kitty Warren, whose financial success has come through exploiting the rigid constraints of a patriarchal society.
At the heart of the drama is a collision between generations and values. Vivie embodies progress, rationality, and independence, while Mrs. Warren represents survival within a system that denied women respectable economic options. Shaw’s script probes questions that remain unsettled today, including the cost of economic freedom, the hypocrisies of moral judgment, and the uneven distribution of opportunity.
A notable West End production
The National Theatre Live production reunites Imelda Staunton with director Dominic Cooke, with whom she has collaborated on several previous stage successes. Staunton, a five-time Olivier Award winner widely recognized for her work on stage and screen, brings gravitas to the role of Mrs. Warren, while Carter, known for her work in period drama, portrays Vivie with intellectual clarity and resolve.
Cooke’s direction emphasizes the play’s contemporary relevance, allowing Shaw’s arguments to unfold without distancing them as historical artifacts. The result is a production that highlights the enduring tension between social progress and entrenched norms, while foregrounding the emotional complexity of the central relationship.
Theatre access through cinema
National Theatre Live has become a vital conduit for audiences unable to attend major productions in London. By capturing performances with multiple cameras and cinematic precision, the program offers viewers what it describes as the best seat in the house, preserving both performance detail and theatrical scale.
At Coral Gables Art Cinema, Friday screenings feature English open captions as part of the theater’s accessibility initiative for d/Deaf and hard of hearing audiences. The Dec. 19 screening of Mrs. Warren’s Profession will include these captions.
Screening details and ticket information
The film runs approximately two hours and is presented in English. Screenings are scheduled daily at noon on Friday, Dec. 19; Saturday, Dec. 20; and Sunday, Dec. 21. Tickets are priced at $16 for cinema members and $20 for nonmembers, with membership offering additional savings and waived online service fees.
For South Florida audiences interested in classic drama, feminist literary history, or contemporary British theatre, Mrs. Warren’s Profession offers a timely opportunity to engage with a work that continues to challenge assumptions more than a century after it was written.
Event details
‘Mrs. Warren’s Profession”
National Theatre Live
Coral Gables Art Cinema
260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables
Showtimes:
Friday, Dec. 19 – noon (open captions).
Saturday, Dec. 20 – noon.
Sunday, Dec. 21 – noon.
Tickets:
$16 (members); $20 (nonmembers)
