Hobson's Choice

Synopsis

Salford 1880. Hobson is a cobbler aiming to marry off his two youngest daughters. Maggie, his eldest at 30, is already an old maid - so she can stay at home and look after him! But Maggie has other ideas and finds herself a husband - and with him they open a rival shoe shop! First produced in 1916.

Our Review:

3 July 2003

Hobson's Choice was written in 1915, but has rarely been out of fashion. Tanika Gupta's new version has transplanted the action to a modern Salford, and the Hobsons are now an Indian family, working hard on their tailoring business (rather than the original bootmakers).

Director Richard Jones, tries hard to thoroughly modernise the piece. Every gimmick is brought into play, from the tailoring pattern programme to the bilingual wedding invites. He even gets the entire audience trooping over to a local church hall for the second act to recreate the wedding reception, complete with Indian sweets.

But these are cosmetic touches. The trouble with this production is that Gupta's version is not different enough. The parallels between Brighouse's Victorian patriarch and her Asian paterfamilias are striking, but all too often the new text appears to have been bolted on the old version, with a few minor changes. The dialogue seems somewhat stilted as a resul...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com (194.201.26.33) - 15 July 2003:

Ali Mossop was the best actor. His performance was most enjoyable to watch. Hari Hobson ranted a little too much, sometimes too loudly for my liking. The youngest daughters were no more than adequate along with their suitors. The eldest daughter was a suitable foil for Ali's inadequacies and later reborn confidence. I liked the staging. The shop was excellent along with the downstairs workroom. I expected something different on moving over to the church hall. On the whole not as good as some of the other productions I have seen at the Young Vic e.g. Raisins in the Sun and the Daughter-in-Law. ...

Read more and add your own review