Hobson's Choice, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre - theatre review

Nadia Falls has turned an often old and creaky warhorse into a fresh and poignant revival
Bornbastic Presence: Mark Benton as Henry Hobson (Pic: Alastair Muir)
Henry Hitchings18 June 2014

Hobson's Choice is the sort of play that tends to be described as an old warhorse — with the adjective "creaky" sometimes added disparagingly. But Nadia Fall's bright, brisk production makes Harold Brighouse's 1915 play feel wonderfully fresh.

Although its setting in urban Salford means it's not obviously suited to this leafy open-air space, there's a convincingly gritty, detailed design by Ben Stones. And Fall's decision to move the action from the 1880s to the 1960s makes its treatment of thorny questions to do with class and gender immediately accessible.

Henry Hobson is a proud shopkeeper, tyrannical father and blundering alcoholic. His three daughters all work for him, reaping the most meagre dividends. Maggie is the eldest and defies him by deciding to marry Willie Mossop, the most skilful of the underpaid workers who toils in Hobson’s basement. She sees the pliable, nervous Willie as a project and converts his diligence into dynamism.

Jodie McNee is tremendous as Maggie, capturing her spiky assertiveness and also the delicate humanity she carefully masks. The interplay between her and Karl Davies’s Willie is delightful. Meanwhile, Mark Benton brings a nice mix of bombast and chaos to Hobson, a King Lear figure whose declining health obliges him to solicit the aid of the daughter he has previously rejected.

There's perky support from Hannah Britland and Nadia Clifford as his other children but it’s McNee who lights up this funny, poignant revival.

Until July 12 (0844 826 4242, openairtheatre.com)

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