How is it possible that a 19th Century play by George Bernard Shaw could be so on trend for today? Promethean Theatre Ensemble’s production of Mrs. Warren’s Profession is just that, examining the limitations women faced in careers - steeply limited in those days - and hurdles they faced in establishing an independent life, outside of marriage or household servant.

But just as importantly, Mrs. Warren’s Profession brings us a breakthrough performance by Elaine Carlson in the role of Mrs. Kitty Warren, the wealthy proprietress of a collection of boutique brothel hotels in England and abroad. Carlson brings us a fully developed character, and has plumbed every nook and cranny of Kitty Warren’s emotional make-up. The result is a powerful performance, one that knocked me off my feet. Carlson so fully inhabits the role that we no longer see the actress, we see Kitty Warren.

Shaw can be challenging - his plays are talky, and serious, full of big thoughts and intellectual jousting. In this production, the script has been adapted by Melanie Spewock, who “streamlines Shaw’s text and makes it more woman-centric.” Directed by Michael D. Graham, Shaw is given an effective expression here. Purists may not like it, but I did. 

The story revolves around a visit by Mrs. Warren’s daughter, Vivie Warren (Corrie Riedl) to see her mother while on break from school. But the two don’t really know each other - Vivie was raised at boarding schools - and Kitty, in late middle age, is hoping to build a relationship with her daughter. Vivie takes umbrage once she discovers the nature of her mother’s enterprise, and is shamed by the fact it has funded her upbringing and schooling.

But then Shaw, through Kitty, makes a passionate defense of her position as a madame, describing her poverty, limited options to make a living, and providing Vivie for the first time a window into her mother’s back story. “It can’t be right that there is no other opportunity for a girl,” Kitty Warren says. 

Written so well by Shaw in Spewock’s version, and delivered so forcefully by Elaine Carlson as Kitty Warren, Vivie embraces her mother’s choices - and so does the audience. Kitty Warren notes that young women are encouraged to work in dangerous factories or in shops for starvation wages by clergymen, who condemn prostitution. But the economics argue in favor of it. 

“Where would we be if we minded the clergyman’s foolishness,” Kitty says. An appreciation guide for this production, which estimates there were 8,000 to 80,000 English sex workers, provides a backgrounder on the censorship of the play by English authorities. Written in 1893, Mrs. Warren's Profession wasn't fully produced in England until 1925.

There is much more to this story - suitors for Vivie, lots of dirty laundry aired, including uncertainty about who Vivie’s father is. You must watch the rest of the story unfold on stage. As always Promethean delivers the goods. And it is all about the performances. Mrs. Warren's Profession runs through March 29 at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark St. in Chicago.