Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"...Shaw's "play unpleasant" (as the author pegged it) receives a rousing and sparkling production with Remy Bumppo Theatre Company under the sharp direction of David Darlow."
Chicago Sun Times
- Highly Recommended
"...It's now getting one of those snap, crackle and pop productions that is a trademark of Remy Bumppo Theatre, with actor David Darlow in the director's chair demonstrating his ease with a playwright whose sparkling language, sharp-minded characters and cutting humor feel wholly fresh."
Daily Herald
- Highly Recommended
"...This Remy Bumppo production succeeds on every level, with its most powerful moments courtesy of Armour and Shunk. Armour's performance is unsentimental and expertly nuanced (note how her voice and demeanor coarsens subtlety when she describes her impoverished youth and the harsh realities women of her class face). With her ramrod posture and purposeful stride, the self-contained, fiercely intense Shunk brings a great physical presence to Vivie, an often priggish character who Shunk makes endearing."
SouthtownStar
- Highly Recommended
"...Although topics that were scandalous during Victorian times are no longer taboo, the play rarely is mounted today. But now, in a superb revival by the Remy Bumppo Theatre in Chicago, Shaw's provocative and controversial work has been elegantly rejuvenated."
Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...Couple this with David Darlow's clean direction and pitch-perfect casting for the Remy Bumppo Theatre Company and you get a production that crackles with Shavian wit. Donald Brearley and Kevin Gudahl deliver the verbal pyrotechnics with great skill, but the play belongs to Annabel Armour, exceptional as the elegant, socially adept title character."
Windy City Times
- Recommended
"... A roster of only six characters places a heavy burden on each player, but with Susan Shunk and Annabel Armour as the Warrens mére et fille at the vanguard, ably supported by Kevin Gudahl, Donald Brearley, Matt Schwader and Joe Van Slyke as the men content to let the ladies run things, the ensemble navigates Shaw’s intricate arguments with the esprit of comrades enjoying their work together."
Gay Chicago Magazine
- Recommended
"...Overall, “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” is an exquisite study of the struggles women once faced (and still face) when yearning to obtain a decent standard of living through an enjoyable career rather than succumb to the morally acceptable road of seeking a husband for security. Through “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” Remy Bumppo has presented a highly satisfying resonant coda to its theatrical season."
Time Out Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...with the exception of Remy Bumppo first-timer Schwader, who lends an ease to the slippery role of Vivie’s opportunistic suitor, most of the performances feel like stiff, oft-revisited territory for this company that has stayed so close not just to its welcome repertory of thinking-man’s classics, but also its less welcome tendency of approaching them without variety. Mrs. Warren may not be entirely about sex, but it also shouldn’t lack for spice."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...Mrs. Warren’s Profession features wonderful performances from the “A” list Equity players led by Annabel Armour’s stinging Kitty. Armour blends Kitty’s Nuevo refinement to old crude cockney slang. Susan Shunk’s Vivie is filled with deep seeded strength while Matt Schwader’s charm and warmth wins us. Veteran actors Kevin Gudhal, Donald Brearley and Joe Van Slyke render terrific work as Shaw’s comedy still carries enough bite to be relevant today."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Highly Recommended
"...Although written over a century ago, "Mrs. Warren’s Profession" offers lessons in independence and personal responsibility contemporary audiences would do well to take to heart. Vivie tires of people always blaming circumstances for what they are, declaring "Everyone has some choice." Likewise, her mother wonders, "What’s life without self-respect?" Bravo to the Remy Bumppo company for a masterful production of a still sizzling script."
