For the first part of its summer season, the Watermill Theatre, near Newbury, returns to an old warhorse of a play, Harold Brighouse's Hobson's Choice, that first saw the light of day in 1915. It is certain to attract older generations of theatregoers, and, if the press night is anything to go by, it has a surprising appeal for younger audiences as well.

The programme rightly draws attention to the work of Jessica Curtis, the designer for this production. Jessica has created a set that is economic in terms of representing 1880s domesticity, but one which clearly distinguishes between three different interiors, most strikingly in its varied use of a very solid looking staircase.

Hobson's Choice is dominated by the power struggle between its two main characters, the ageing shoe shop proprietor Henry Hobson, wonderfully played by John Branwell, who sees himself as a model of middle-class common sense, and Maggie, the eldest of his three daughters, whom, at 30, Henry considers to be on the shelf. Anna-Jane Casey excels as the formidable Maggie, creating a persona that is reminiscent of the formidable ladies of The Last of the Summer Wine. Embarking on an improbable marriage with the most gifted of her father's bootmakers, Maggie proceeds to build up her own business that overshadows that of her father and surpasses the achievements of her more marriageable sisters.

Paul Foster makes a remarkable Albert Prosser, the illiterate and inarticulate object of Maggie's affections, and the play is as much a story of his education as it is of Maggie's dominance. Although he is initially incapable of resisting Maggie's forcefully stated schemes for their shared future, Albert gradually blossoms into his own man. When, in the final scenes of the play, he eventually breaks into a smile at the prospect of taking his former boss into partnership with him, it's tempting to feel that Maggie's grotesque manipulating has, after all, turned out for the best.

Although the play has hints of early feminist leanings, it is a feminism that knows its place, with Maggie insisting that her husband should be the decision-maker and generally dominant partner. Her sisters, Alice (Rosalie Craig) and Vickey (Natalie Casey), are by contrast airheads when it comes to business and much more conformist, except when they are defying their father in matters of fashion.

The large cast includes several cameo appearances, the most satisfactory of them being Suzanne Toase as the hapless Ada, Albert's former fiance, who is rudely cast aside, and Jack McKenzie as Dr MacFarlane, a Scottish medic whose obstinacy easily rivals that of Hobson himself.

Patrons of the Watermill will find this production, directed by Timothy Sheader, a reliable choice for a summer night out. It runs until July 8.