The Oldest Profession is tells the story of Mae, a madam, and her stable: Ursula, Lillian, Vera and Edna. They are five “working girls” at the end of their very long careers who are coming to terms with retirement – from the oldest profession. Unfortunately, the old-age pension is not what it used to be. Veterans of legalized prostitution, doing their bit for the war effort, in the Storyville red-light district of New Orleans, where Mae says, “there was honor in the trade,” five very senior ‘ladies of the night’ have migrated together to New York City’s Upper West Side in the early 1980s. They now are faced with a diminishing clientele, younger competition for their niche market, and aching joints. These elderly ‘working girls’ are at the end of their very long careers. They are businesswomen whose clients are literally a dying breed and these girls aren’t getting any younger themselves. With wit, compassion and humour, they struggle to find and learn new tricks as they fight to stay in ‘The Life’.