Hobson's Choice - November 2003

Hobson's Choice, By Harold Brighouse
Hoghton Village Hall, 20th-22nd November 2003
Hoghton Tower, 27-30th November 2003

The son of a Manchester businessman and his wife, Harold Brighouse was born in Eccles, Lancashire and was educated at Manchester Grammar School before leaving at the age of sixteen to work in the cotton trade. His writing career was prolific, resulting in over seventy plays, most of which were comedies about the people and events of his local Lancashire. He was one the first dramatists of the twentieth century to turn away from metropolitan and upper-class subjects to write about provincial life and the working and middle classes. Brighouse's dominant mode was realism, and he was associated with the Manchester school of realistic drama that also included W S Houghton and Allan Monkhouse.

'Hobson's Choice' (1915), his most well-known work, is about an irascible, self-pitying owner of a Salford shoe shop. Its energy and comedy animate Brighouse's portraits of the Lancashire people.
Brighouse continued to work throughout his life as a theatre critic for the Manchester Guardian. His autobiography, 'What I Have Had', appeared in 1953.

Henry Horatio Hobson owns an established boot shop in Salford, Lancashire. He has three daughters, the oldest being Maggie, who manages the home and business while Hobson spends considerable time with fellow tradesmen at the local pub. The younger two daughten, Alice and Vicky, are each being courted by two stuffy, young boys, who are neighbors, Albert Prosser and Freddie Beenstock. While Hobson refuses to give the couples settlements, Maggie rejects the common theory that at thirty, she is past marriage. When she becomes aware of the skilled craftsmanship of Willie Mossop, an unlettered workman employed by Hobson,Maggie decides to woo and wed Willie and then carefully build the humble craftsman into a tradesman capable of challenging her father.

Soon after Maggie and Willie have set up their own shop, Hobson falls into the cellar of his enemy one night while stumbling home drunk. When he is sued, Maggie, with the help of Freddie and Albert, is able to settle the action. In the process, she secures enough money to provide dowries for her sisters. With all the girls gone, Hobson begins to drink in earnest and soon becomes very ill. Maggie offers her father an ultimatum; she will return home with her husband only if he is given a full partnership in the business; Hobson agrees.The Spaniard’s efforts to find his beloved’s husband, his successive challenges to mortal combat of every man he meets in her company, the resulting misunderstandings and the cases of mistaken identity all add up to a classic farce, and are guaranteed to raise a smile.


Gallery


https://s1103.photobucket.com/albums/g475/TheHoghtonPlayers/Hobsons%20Choice/?albumview=slideshow


Cast

Director - Margaret Jones Producer - Veronica Roper

William Mossop - Matthew Seed Dr Macfarlane - Paul Santus Maggie Hobson - Anne-Marie Flood Tubby Wadlow - Brian Hoyle Henry Horatio Hobson - David Lloyd

Vickey Hobson - Lois Ward Jim Heeler - Ian Murray Alice Hobson - Claire Heyworth Ada Figgins - Fiona Wignall Albert Prosser - Stephen Daniels

Mrs Hepworth - Margaret Kay Freddie Beenstock - Andrew Johannesen


Crew

Prompt - Angela Fowler Stage Manager/Props - Veronica Roper, Stephen Niven, Barbara Niven

Make up & Hair - Millie Santus & Carole Brindle Set design & construction - Graham Brindle, Norman Goodenough, Clive Dawson, Bill Nuttall Lighting - Paul Heyworth & Matt Smith

Sound - Bill Nuttall Wardrobe - Barbara Freeman, Ellen Mace, Millie Santus Front of House - Stephanie Murray & Team Box Office - The Filling Station


Review: