But while Nadia Fall’s immensely enjoyable production keeps his original Salford setting, it neatly updates it from 1880 to the swinging 60’s, when rebellion against strict parental control was very much in the air.
Boozing, bullying widower Henry Hobson owns a thriving boot-making business, its success due primarily to the efforts of his eldest daughter Maggie in the shop and the undervalued skills of his junior boot-maker (Karl Davies’s Willie Mossop) in the basement. Dismissed as being on the shelf, thirty-year-old Maggie is astute enough to grab a chance when she sees one.
Her determined efforts to nab (and mould) a husband and carve out a better future for herself – and her pretty younger sisters – provides the stuff of delicious comedy undercut by a touching poignancy.
Recent Strictly favourite Mark Benton commands the stage as the Lear-like, alcoholic paterfamilias – his drunken geniality swiftly turning to domineering aggression the moment he steps through his front door. But neither he nor Willie, her intended, – nor anyone else who crosses her path – is any match for Jodie McNee’s superb Maggie once she puts her plans into action.
And it’s surely no coincidence that her smart blue wedding outfit is a reminder of another northern shopkeeper’s daughter called Maggie who ended up in Downing Street!
All in all, an unexpected summer treat. Catch it while you can.
When: Until July 12
Where: Open Air Theatre, Inner Circle, Regents Park, NW1 4NR
Tickets cost £25.00 – £45.00 + £55 for premium seats. To book, click here
