MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
Latest editorial
Really choice
PAUL FOLEY sees an excellent new version of a classic Harold Brighouse comedy
Sympathetic curmudgeon Tony Jayawardena (right) as Hari Hobson
New releases from Mountain, Soul Asylum and Michael McDermott
ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
Hobson’s Choice
Royal Exchange, Manchester
THIS production of Hobson’s Choice is like no other — and it’s an absolute cracker.
Much of this is down to Tanika Gupta’s clever, slick and very funny adaptation which sets the play in 1988 and relocates the action a couple of miles across the River Irwell to Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
In it, refugee from Idi Amin’s Uganda Hari Hobson has built up a successful tailoring business in Manchester. Despite his high standing in the city’s Asian community, the real brains behind the business is his daughter Durga.
More from this author
PAUL FOLEY applauds a faultless musical that tells the tragic real-life story of working-class winners of the football pools
PAUL FOLEY is blown away by a Brazilian band at the top of their game
PAUL FOLEY examines how the Whitworth is attempting to engage with sexual minorites
