Hobson's Choice Studio Theatre Croyde Village Hall Review: Jo Wood

I HAVE a guilty secret. An addiction. And I believe I'm not alone, if a full to busting Croyde Village Hall was anything to go by, there are many people out there with the same problem.

What's my drug of choice? Come closer and I'll whisper it: costume drama. It's true, I can't get enough of it. Sunday night isn't Sunday night unless I have a Dickens of a good mini-series to wallow in. So, when I read in What's On that Studio Theatre were putting on Hobson's Choice, I simply had to get my fix.

Normally if anyone asks you what you thought of a performance, and your answer is "The costumes were good", you can usually infer that the rest of the show wasn't worth watching, but in a Paula Morante production you know the costumes are going to be out of this world. And the challenge for the actors is to fill the role as well as the fabulous dress.

Do you remember the film Hobson's Choice with all those famous names: John Mills, Charles Laughton et al? We read the play at school (with cod Northern accents) but I had forgotten the charm of it, the gentle humour and characters which are an absolute gift to the actor.

The story centres around Hobson, a middle-class owner of a Manchester shoeshop, self important and bombastic, who tries to rule his household but fails miserably. Really at the helm is Maggie (Sara Pruce) his eldest daughter. She has the misfortune of possessing a brain, which has kept her firmly 'on the shelf' at 30. Her two younger sisters, Alice and Vicky, whinge like teenagers well before teenagers were invented, and pine for a husband and escape from the shop.

Hobson's business relies on his excellent bootmaker Will Mossop, played with great sensitivity by Tony Parker, who has no idea how his life is about to change. Maggie has an audacious plan, which will get them both away from her father, make Will's fortune, and bag husbands for her sisters into the bargain. We know right from the first line that whatever Maggie wants she's going to get.

The relationship between Maggie and her father was played out perfectly. Every one of the characters developed over the course of the play and some changed almost beyond recognition. Alan Bailey described Hobson's descent into alcoholism but always kept it comical, never making us laugh so much as when he was lost for words. I particularly liked Peggy Strudwick's cameo as the well-to-do Mrs Hepworth. Also a joy to listen to was Larry Fabian as the Scots Doctor McFarlane (how ever did he manage to keep up the accent amid all that Lancashire?)

Brass band music, clever use of props and a well-dressed set made us quite at home in the late Victorian/Edwardian parlour. And I for one would have been very happy to tune in for the rest of the mini-series.

By the time you read this the run will be over, but check out www.studiotheatreonline .org.uk to see what else is going on over the summer.