Hobson's Choice

 

 

Hobson’s Choice, written by Harold Brighouse, is a comedy play set in Manchester during the late 1800s.  It tells the story of Henry Hobson who owns a high-class shoe shop and his three rebellious daughters.  The story is loosely based on Shakespeare’s play King Lear and the title references the saying that Hobson’s choice is no choice at all. 

Mr Henry Hobson is a typical Victorian father recently widowed who finds raising girls challenging particularly his oldest daughter, Maggie.  Maggie herself is a formidable saleswoman with a keen business sense running rings around the hapless customers.

Hobson’s other daughters, Alice and Vickey, are less than enamoured working in the shoe shop especially since their stingy father refuses to even pay them.   Both girls have their eyes on prospective husbands; Albert Prosser a junior solicitor with Prosser, Pilkington and Prosser and Freddy Beanstock the son of a local businessman. Their father, however, is not in the business of allowing the girls to choose their own husbands.  He is especially disparaging regarding Maggie who he deems to be on the shelf at thirty.  He does however have a more ulterior motive recognising that Maggie is far too valuable to release to some unsuitable suitor.

Maggie decides to take drastic action and chooses the timid Willy Mossop who works under the shop crafting high quality boots.  Willy is mortified that Maggie is interested in him protesting that he is not in love with her.  Maggie assures him it is purely a business arrangement as she obviously sees some potential in him and quickly sees off her rival Ada ‘the scheming hussy’ Figgins. 

When Maggie tells her father of her decision to marry Willy Mossop, he is furious and threatens to beat Willy with his leather belt.  This backfires on Hobson by making Willy resolute to leave his former employer and take his daughter with him!

The rest of the story hinges around Hobson tumbling through a trapdoor while drunk which Maggie sees as an opportunity to take legal action against him for damages, trespass and industrial espionage.  Realising Maggie is totally in control and has he has been ‘diddled’ he reluctantly settles out of court.  Maggie then uses the money to enable her sisters to marry. 

We then revisit the story a year later to find Hobson now seriously ill who is to be faced with his own ‘Hobson’s choice’ regarding his shoe shop business at the hands of Maggie and her now confident husband.

Lloyd Hawkins was wonderful as the larger-than-life Northern misogynistic patriarch Henry Hobson.  Lloyd blustered across the stage his hands tucked firmly in his waistcoat while dispensing caustic comments to his rebellious females castigating them for their uppishness for scorning his wisdom.  He roared at Maggie for suggesting he return for dinner when she requested it but toadied at the feet at the wealthy Mrs Hepworth almost bending double to show the class difference.  The change in his demeanour dressed in shirt and braces, as he gradually declined into chronic alcoholism was very well done even trying to bully his poor doctor.  Lloyd mined every ounce of comedy from the character, so we never really disliked him but recognised he was an out-dated dinosaur of his time.  

Willie Mossop was played with great humour by John Mitchell, and it was a delight to see him visibly squirm at Maggie’s decision to marry him whether he liked it or not.  John really inhabited this character wringing his handkerchief with anguish, his back bent from years of domination.  I particularly liked the development of Mossop as under Maggie’s tutelage he learnt to read and write becoming an astute and confident businessman finally able to stand up to his former employer and turn the tables on him. 

On this occasion, due to illness, the role of Maggie was played by Millie Satchell who due to short notice read the lines from the script.  This however proved no detriment to her performance as Millie was able to confidently interact with the other cast members so that the use of a script was hardly noticeable.  Millie played the part brilliantly with a dry and sardonic humour perfectly capturing a woman who knew what she wanted and exactly how to get it.  Her interactions with Willy Mossop the man with the ‘spirit of a mouse’ were highlights of the show as she treated him like the customer who only came in for a pair of shoelaces telling him he was a ‘business plan in the shape of a man.’  The scenes with her father were also very funny as she ran proverbial rings around him.  She proved at the end to be like the faithful Cordelia in King Lear - the one true daughter there for him when he needed her.  I especially liked her insistence that she kept her original brass wedding ring as a symbol of her humble beginnings with Willy while setting up their own business. 

Hobson’s remaining daughters Alice (Sophie Lale) and Vickey (Eden Franey-Gardiner) showed their own ways of defying their overbearing father. Vickey sat reading a book instead of working in the shop and Alice was inept at book-keeping.  Once married, both girls showed their haughtiness looking down on their now almost destitute father.  

Special mention to Tubby Wadlow (Simon Warner) the fellow boot maker who knew his place.  He performed a linking monologue front of tabs to fill the audience in on what had happened a year later.  Tubby found himself acting as a housemaid looking after his once wealthy employer whose temper and obstinacy had ruined him.  Also, Dr MacFarlane (Peter Thomas) who proved more than a match for the stubborn over-dramatic Hobson. 

The set in the opening act was a shoe shop with counters and a functioning door with bell and various vintage posters of the period.  There was a trap door where Willy and Tubby worked under the shop.  Rooms were created using furniture to create a Victorian parlour.  I especially liked the wedding breakfast table laid with teapot, teacups and even a bowl of sugar lumps. 

Costumes were also appropriate to the period. Hobson wore a brown suit and waistcoat complete with pocket watch and the ladies wore late Victorian dress including hats and muffs. Willy and Tubby wore stained leather aprons to signify their lowly status.  One costume highlight was when Willy removed his smart jacket to reveal a vest beneath but with false cuffs and collar to give the illusion of a shirt. 

Scene changes were efficient with the addition of music appropriate to the time.  Lighting and sound effects were good and added to the overall ambience creating a well lit set.

Congratulations to producer Richard Hinchcliffe.  You have obviously had great fun creating this pacy funny show and your attention to detail was apparent.  Northern accents used were accurate and your characters were never caricatures but careful observations showcasing the attack on class structure and highlighting the feminist values that runs through the heart of the show while still keeping sympathy for the central character, Hobson.

Thank you to Cody McGinty for another warm welcome to Retford Little Theatre and the opportunity to meet Lloyd and Stage Manager, Maxine Goldstone after the show.  I look forward to seeing your next production.   

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