Theatre Review: Hindle Wakes (Finborough Theatre)

The Finborough’s last show, Sam Yates’s exquisite revival of J.B Priestley’s Cornelius, was so superb that the theatre really has to go some to match it with their latest offering. They haven’t managed it, quite, but they’ve come pretty close. Stanley Houghton’s 1912 feminist play Hindle Wakes lacks the emotional depth of Cornelius; if anything, it’s closer in spirit to Priestley’s comedy When We Are Married which was written in 1938 but set in 1910, the same year as Houghton’s text. Still, Bethan Dear’s production proves a most beguiling thing. In an evening full of humour and warmth, Dear delivers the play’s elements of social critique with disarming lightness and charm rather than stridency. The production is delightful. Full review at OneStopArts.