Mrs. Warren's Profession

Act I is set in a garden outside of a country cottage, rented by the determined, self-confident, and well-educated recent college graduate Vivie Warren. Vivie is approached by Mr. Praed, an artistically inclined friend of her mother's. Vivie is a gifted mathematician and tells Praed she plans to live a practical life, going into business with her friend Honoria Fraser and working in law, insurance, and finance. Praed advocates for a life of aesthetic appreciation, but Vivie replies that she has spent time with artistic people at concerts and museums and was bored. She asks Praed if he thinks her mother will approve, explaining that she has always lived away from her mother and knows little about her. Praed refuses to tell Vivie much about her mother. Vivie predicts that her mother may try to control her life, but says that she will use her mother's secrecy about her own life against her in any argument they have about Vivie's future.

The loud and gaudily dressed Mrs. Kitty Warren and the rich, middle-aged playboy Sir George Crofts arrive. Vivie goes into the cottage. Praed tells Mrs. Warren that Vivie seems mature and that Mrs. Warren should treat her with respect. Mrs. Warren scoffs that she knows how to treat her own daughter. Mrs. Warren leaves the two men alone, and Crofts asks Praed if he knows whom Vivie's father is. He says he feels attracted to Vivie, but can't be sure that he isn't her father. Praed says he knows nothing about that side of Mrs. Warren's life, but since Crofts is old enough to be Vivie's father he should treat her in a parental way