Product Description

The "Heinemann Plays" series offers contemporary drama and classic plays in durable classroom editions. Many have large casts and an equal mix of boy and girl parts. "Hobson's Choice" is a comedy based around the battle of wills between a hard-headed cobbler and his defiant daughter.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106201 in Books
• Published on: 1992-04-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 98 pages

Customer Reviews

Hobson's Choice = No Choice
This is a witty Lancashire comedy set in 1880. The jokes are innocent but hilarious, when this play is brought to life on the stage the commical value can be seen hugely.

Henry Horatio Hobson feels that his eldest daughter Maggie (30 yrs old) is to old to get wed and when he finds out the cost of marriage, he ban all 3 of his daughters from getting married. Outraged at being called an 'old maid', Maggie plots to show her father than she isn't to old to get married and she herself can threaten his most prized posesion (his boot shop). Forcing Willie Mossop to marry her, she sets about planning marriages for her younger sisters. By the end of the play, she has shown her father that he does need and relies on her and that he isn't the only business person in the family.

Hobson has no choice in what occurs, as he has driven his eldest daughter out of his house and she has plotted to show him the error of his ways, he has no choice but to accept matters.

This GCSE text version includes an overview of the whole play and gives a guide as to what some of the period language means such as 'marriage portions'.
An outstanding play which is well worth a read.

hobsons choice review
Hobson's Choice
by Harold Brighouse

Henry Horatio Hobson, widower and boot-shop proprietor, is much incensed at the general increase of uppishness amongst his three daughters. The climax comes when he twits Maggie (the eldest and ringleader) on her being past the marrying age. Maggie promptly retaliates by marrying Hobson's best boot-hand, Will Mossup and turning this retiring youth into a sturdy fellow whose new confidence makes him a real business rival to Hobson.
Hobson disowns the entire family but finds that he cannot do without them. Bowing to the circumstances Hobson has no choice but to accept Will as a partner in the new firm of 'Mossup and Hobson'.

old fashioned but very true.

Worth Reading
I wasn't sure if I liked this at first but the more I read, the more it grew on me. There are funny bits mixed together well with some touching moments. Worth a look.