Richmond & Twickenham Times, Friday June 27th, 2003

A grand tale of opposing moral views - Helen Taylor
Twiggy Lawson comes to Richmond Theatre next week - she is starring in Mrs Warren's Profession, George Bernard Shaw's timeless comedy about sex, status and economic independence.
Twiggy, the sixties icon during an era of rebellion, sexual liberation and challenges to the British class system, was internationally known as the world's first supermodel. She went on to become a successful actress in stage, film and television. She won two Golden Globe awards in The Boy Friend and a Tony Award nomination for My One And Only. she is married to the actor Leigh Lawson.
I spoke to Twiggy earlier this week.
"This is a great play," she told me. "And it is a wonderful part of me. When I did Pygmalion on television years ago I read Mrs Warren's Profession too and loved the play but of course then she was much too old for me to play - but hey, just look what happened!"
Banned for 25 years for moral reasons, the play is a study of the economics of prostitution. Mrs Warren (played by Twiggy) has fought to climb up the social ladder by running a chain of brothels which have paid for her daughter's education. When the mother and daughter confront each other with their opposing moral views, the appearance of Victorian respectability on which their world is built begins to crumble.
"One of the amazing things about this play is that it never once mentions the words 'prostitute' or 'brothel'." Twiggy went on.
"Fortunately Shaw doesn't preach too much in this and it's amazing that my daughter in the play is so much of a new woman."
"Hannah Yelland plays and she smokes and drinks and wants to work - it's all fascinating and we are still discovering little things about the piece that weren't obvious at first.
"When Peter Hall rang me and offered me the part, I just leapt at it! I agreed to do a tour of twelve weeks and we're about halfway through now.
"It's fun to visit different places and experience different audiences but after a while I get tired of living out of a suitcase. I have been rather sad in Stoke on Trent - the redundancies at the Wedgewood factory have hit the place very hard - so very many people are affected.
"I'm really looking forward to playing Richmond Theatre - it is such a beautiful building and I do love the place itself. When I was about 18 and all those amazing things were happening in my life, I bought a house in Cross Deep in Twickenham where we lived for a family for a while and where my parents lived for twenty years.
"After my dad died in the early 1990's, I used to visit my mum at least once a week and we'd love pottering around Richmond and having lunch in Dickins and Jones. I really miss my mum and these lovely days together.
"Now Leigh and I live in Kensignton so I will be able to live at home for my Richmond week - bliss!"