Few things have done more to foster a high regard for J B Priestley’s An Inspector Calls than Stephen Daldry’s production, which was first presented on the National Theatre’s Lyttelton stage 32 years ago. Such has been its popularity that it has enjoyed UK and international runs and tours that have brought it to over 5 million people - and it is still going strong.
Written immediately after the Second World War, the play is set in 1912, and in its own time it was looking back critically on the cruel shallowness of the bourgeoisie prior to the First World War. Daldry and stage designer Ian Macneil address any risk of the play feeling outdated by the clever use of framing device, in which the home of the Birling family floats almost like an oversized dolls house in a blitz-torn landscape. A group of children and other townspeople intermittently occupy the space around the main drama almost like a Greek chorus, casting a sober 1940s eye on the actions of this unpleasant and dysfunctional family, as they find themselves under the scrutiny of the mysterious Inspector Goole.
Torn away from their cosy cocktail party to celebrate their daughter’s engagement, the family are told of the tragic suicide of a young woman called Eva Smith, before they are each challenged by Inspector Goole and confronted with their own supposed involvement with her, and the ways in which they all may be in one way or another culpable for her death. After the disappearance of the inspector, they decide that they have all been duped by an imposter into accepting their involvement in what appears to have been a fiction, before a final twist in the tale leaves them stunned.
Daldry’s production, which runs all three acts together into an unbroken 110 minute span, cranks up the tension with near-gothic melodrama, and uses several striking visual effects and an atmospheric soundtrack to tease the audience, with almost the same cat-and-mouse glee employed by Goole on the Birling family themselves.
The various members of the family are beautifully characterised by a strong cast assembled for the current tour. There is dismissive indignation from Jeffrey Harmer and Jackie Morrison as Mr and Mrs Birling, George Rowlands and Leona Allen give fine portrayals of the two rather feckless Birling children Eric and Sheila, while Gerald Croft gives a fine turn as Sheila’s errant fiancé Gerald.
It is Tim Treolar, however, who carries much of the weight of the piece as the strange Inspector Goole. His gruff and often aggressive reading of the character curiously brings flashes of humour that were perhaps not so evident in previous incarnations of the production. The entire work seems to be building towards his final, departing speech, and although there is much further storytelling after he has left the stage, it is his powerful and cautionary message that seems to hang over the closing scenes and right to the end.
This is a textbook example of how to interpret a dark and wordy play and present it in a way that grips its audience and holds them on the edge of their seats. Little wonder that it continues to tour again and again and is frequently used, as it is here, as a set piece for school groups.
An Inspector Calls is at Liverpool Empire until 23rd November, and continues touring with dates up to May 2025.
This review was originally written for publication by Good News Liverpool
Star rating: 4½ stars
Members of the cast of An Inspector Calls - image by Mark Douet
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