Theatre review: An Inspector Calls

For a change of scenery, Andrea and I went to watch a production of the J.B. Priestley play, An Inspector Calls, as directed by Stephen Daldry. A thought-provoking psychological thriller with socialist themes, the play examines the roles that people have with respect to the welfare of others.

The play takes place in England prior to WWI and opens with the juxtapositioning of ragged street kids in the rain against a dinner party in the house of a wealthy industrialist, Mr. Birling. Present at the dinner ar Birling's wife, Sybil, their son, Eric, their daughter, Sheila, and Gerald Croft, the son of a baronet. The party is celebrating the engagement of Sheila to Gerald, which Birling crowns with a speech to his son and guest about the need to take care of their dependents (oh, the irony!). The party is disrupted by the arrival of Inspector Goole, who has come to question them about the seemingly unrelated suicide of a girl, Eva Smith. Under the probing questions of the Inspector, we see that each person had a role in Eva's downfall and eventual suicide. But things change...and you start to question the reliability and identity of the Inspector...

This is a psychological thriller in the best noir sense. The set and entrance of the Inspector is pure noir, all dark shadows and weird lighting, smoke and a character wearing a trench coat and hat! As to the Birling family and Gerald, you feel in turn outrage, disgust and pity at the callous actions towards the girl and the consequences. This is definitely a production that plays upon your intellect, emotions and moral sense, however, I felt at times that the script was a bit repetitive in the attempt to reinforce its message of social responsibility to others. Perhaps the most interesting aspect was when the Inspector is revealed to nor be all he appears, the characters most concerned about status and scandal are willing to atttempt to return to the time pre-Inspector, despite the (literal) fall of the house of Birling. Possibly a case of the younger generation learning from and paying for the mistakes of their forebears?

The acting is impressive, completely necessary in a play like this. The way each actor managed to portray their character's distess at the line of arguing by becoming red-faced, bog eyed, and have that vein pop out on their forehead...very convincing. Perhaps the best was that of Sandra Duncan playing Sybil Birling - her actions of contempt towards the Inspecter and their heated exchanges, her complete unrepentence of her actions towards Eva to her distraught behaviour when she realises what her actions mean. Never was so more conveyed in the lifting of an eyebrow, the sweeping of a dress, or a skewed wig! The character of Gerald is perhaps the most interesting, because despite what appears to have been genuine affection towards Eva and remorse about his actions, he is all too happy to revert to the foppish man he was before. Seriously, the actor under questioning became sweaty, discomfited and looked like he was going to burst into tears at some points, but later he's laughing and rejoicing just as maniacally as the others.

Despite my enjoyment of the play, I will say its not perfect. As stated, the moralising can be somewhat heavy-handed. The departure of the inspector 30 minutes before the end produced a kind of strange anti-climactic feeling followed by the calling into question of his and Eva's identity and the motivation his actions and for the play as a whole. This made me feel kind of ripped off at the time - that it was a huge cop-out to what had been an intersting story. Luckily the ending rocked. The denouement produced a real shock in me and left me and Andrea talking about it long into our post-show dinner at Florentino. (They make such good mashed potatoes and desserts.)

7.5-8/10