Hobson's Choice - Altrincham Garrick

Still a right good laugh - Hobson’s Choice.

SPENDING a large part of the play looking like the proverbial rabbit caught in headlights, Tim Cooper as the downtrodden Willie Mossop is a natural when it comes to playing comedy roles.

A character who is scared of life in general, he’s particularly hilarious after marrying the heroine of the piece, Maggie Hobson, and faces what for him is the daunting prospect of a night of passion on his wedding night.

Casanova he most definitely is not.

But Ros Greenwood’s perfectly pitched production is not just the Tim Cooper Show. Laura Crow makes a formidable but likeable Maggie, a woman who dares to stand up to her father, Henry Hobson.

As the grumpy old boozer Hobson, Richard Sails gives what is for me, his best performance as the skinflint of a boot maker, struggling to come to terms with the fact that he’s about to be dethroned as the family’s patriarch.

The Garrick’s intimate studio theatre turns out to be the perfect setting for a play that still sounds remarkably fresh when you consider it was first performed more than 100 years ago, even though its setting, the Salford of the 1880s, is very, very firmly consigned to the history books.

Not a word of the dialogue is lost and all the cast deserve plaudits for the way they bring their respective roles to life and it seems so unfair to single out individual actors for the simple reason there aren’t any poor ones.

I hope I see some of this cast working together again. A much needed, feel good antidote to these very serious times. Have a right good laugh and enjoy.

Until May 3. Tickets are available from 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating - ****

Photo by Martin Ogden.