Hobson's Choice Tickets

Popular British actor Martin Shaw is an award winner, with an impressive TV and stage career behind him spanning several decades. Now he's back in the glittering West End with Hobson's Choice, the latest revival of a play that's been delighting audiences around the world for a century. The end result is not to be missed, already gathering critical acclaim.

What is a so-called 'Hobson's choice'? It's a choice with only one option, very much along the lines of 'take it or leave it', and it probably originated way back in the 1500s with Thomas Hobson, the owner of a Cambridge livery stable who gave his customers the choice of either taking the horse in a stall nearest the door or taking no horse at all.

The story has legs. It has always been popular. It transferred to the silver screen as a silent movie in the 1920s, then again in 1931 and 1954, this time starring Charles Laughton and directed by David Lean with screenplay by Lean, Wynyard Browne and Norman Spencer. It won a Golden Bear Award as well as a BAFTA for Best British Film.

The roll of honour carried on through the decades. The 1966 Broadway musical Walking Happy is based on it, and there was even a ballet adaptation in 1989 courtesy of Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, also released on DVD. It looks like you're in for a treat!

Hobson's Choice – The story

The plot involves Henry Horatio Hobson, a British widower and the overbearing, bullying owner of a successful shoe shop. He spends most of his time boozing down at the Moonraker's pub with his fellow Masonic members.

Henry's three daughters Alice, Vicky and Maggie all work unpaid for their father, and they're desperate to escape his overly-controlling influence. When the fairy godmother-like Mrs Hepworth, a rich customer, wants to know who actually makes the fabulous boots she buys, and discovers it's Will Mossop, she insists every pair she buys from now on must be made by him.

The most headstrong and determined of the three daughters, Maggie, a talented businesswoman, decides she wants to marry the equally talented bootmaker Will Mossop. She proposes and he agrees. Then all hell lets loose, and an epic battle of wills begins. Hobson threatens to beat Will up and he leaves the shop, accompanied by Maggie. They set up a shoe shop of their own and marry as soon as they can.

The story continues, and gets more and more complicated. When Hobson suffers an attack of delirium tremens, a symptom of alcoholic withdrawal, the balance of power changes for good...

Hobson's Choice tickets – A classic comedy given a fresh new face

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