Tag Archives: Jack Studio Theatre

Hobson’s Choice – 4 Stars

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Hobson

Hobson’s Choice

Jack Studio Theatre

Reviewed – 6th September 2018

★★★★

“Jack Studio Theatre excels at taking calculated risks but here its bets are hedged with top talent”

 

In Matthew Townshend’s refresh of Harold Brighouse’s Mancunian masterpiece, the shift to 1958 makes surprising sense. Victorian throwbacks like Henry Hobson, obstreperously played by John D Collins, were still hanging on alongside the Teddy Boys, and despite the illicit pleasures of dancing to Rockabilly, the crushing sense of entrapment is still there in the narrative as the alcoholic shoe shop owner dictates the fates of his two younger daughters, Vickey (Kelly Aaron) and Alice (Greta Harwood).

In a time of youthful rebellion, it’s all the more telling that it’s the ‘over-the-hill’ daughter, Maggie (Rhiannon Sommers), judged by Hobson to be too sensible to be married off, who actually rebels. Through wit and willpower not music and make-up, she forges a romance with illiterate cobbler Willie Mossop, kept below stairs like a dog, who then flowers as a commercial rival to Hobson himself, under her beneficent control.

This gem of the Northern canon, whose meticulous characterisation recalls a lost world of music hall monologues and mercantile culture, has an enchanting and subversive plot in which the success of a shoe shop is at stake against the backdrop of a gritty and hard-working love story. To amplify this with irrepressible 50s music and dance, care of Ben Goble and Natasha Cox, as well as Martin Robinson’s technicolour outfits and clever set design, is to defy the accepted, grim aesthetic of David Lean’s 1954 film of the play and all other things Northern.

The Jack Studio Theatre excels at taking calculated risks but here its bets are hedged with top talent. While not being the wretched physical specimen portrayed by John Mills in the film version, Michael Brown copes just fine with the touching and funny role of Willie Mossop. And although it’s tough to be truly terrifying as a suffocating patriarch in an era where youth is taking over, the buoyancy of the show is undeniably aided by the illustrious John D Collins. Rhiannon Sommers has no such problem in adapting the role of Maggie for the 50s. Her rendition of steely character and the cheerful conviction that hers is the only choice for all the men and women that surround her, feels heroic and outshines all. Natasha Cox, meanwhile, almost pulls off a theatrical coup in her cameo as the arrival of Nurse MacFarlane, the embodiment of the NHS as cavalry coming to save – and forgive – the ills of society.

A touch of political relevance never goes amiss in a theatre, but if this play preaches anything it’s that in reality, it’s wit, charm and entertainment that get you through the tough times.

 

Reviewed by Dominic Gettins

Photography by Peter Clark

 


Hobson’s Choice

Jack Studio Theatre until 15th September

 

 

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Back to Where – 4 Stars

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Where

Back to Where

Jack Studio Theatre

Reviewed – 12th July 2018

★★★★

“A crackling and plausible script, riddled with poignancy and depth“

 

‘Back to Where’ is a love story told in reverse. We join Will and Jane as they unpack outside a tent in remote North Wales where, almost immediately, the first in a series of arguments flares up over the absence of food and matches. Panic recedes when Will reveals his stash of alcopops and, as night falls, they sit, sip and unpack their relationship instead. The play ends with sunrise the next morning, followed by the last of many flashback scenes, in which they meet for the first time at the hipster coffee shop where Will works as a barista, awaiting his breakthrough as a film director.

This symmetry of Colin James’ script is matched by a symmetrical set; tent centre stage with Will’s coffee shop to one side and Jane’s career girl flat to the other. The action oscillates between the two sides as they peel back the layers; Will in Jane’s flat, guilt-tripping about relying on her lawyer’s income, Jane turning up drunk at his coffee shop accusing him of infidelity. In a key scene, early in their relationship, Jane nervously suggests a marriage of convenience to prevent Will having to return to his native Australia. It’s this contract that haunts the couple as its unwritten terms create cracks in their happy coexistence – possibly the significance of the jagged artwork on the floor of the set?

Lighting and Sound Design by Matt Part are instrumental in creating an unfussy, naturalistic drama that suits the Netflix generation. Indeed, with the play’s concentration on the fundamentals of character and structure the play could almost be a film drama if it weren’t for the slightness of their predicament. It’s hard to believe marriages with an element of convenience are doomed by the presence of genuine passion. However, the chemistry of the duo makes it work. As the more experienced actor, Vincent Andriano’s is a committed performance with great range. Hannah Hawkins is less defined, but she delivers some powerful moments, particularly towards the end of the first half, as she vents Jane’s terror at the strength of her own feelings.

The play has expanded from the version that debuted with the same cast at the Bread and Roses Theatre last year. The development of the story through a process of recorded improvisations implies an impressive degree of work on the couple’s contrasting personalities and backstories. It pays off in a crackling and plausible script, riddled with poignancy and depth, as the couple find that the power of their attraction to each other is a curse on their happiness within the constraints of ordinary life.

 

Reviewed by Dominic Gettins

Photography by Colin James

 


Back to Where

Jack Studio Theatre until 14th July

 

 

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