REVIEW | An Inspector Calls UK Tour
★★★★
Reviewer - NATASHA
*Disclaimer: AD | Gifted Tickets
Priestley’s 1945 play ‘An Inspector Calls’ is now recognised as a classic and retains a popular place on the GCSE English Literature syllabus, if the swathes of uniformed pupils at the Theatre Royal were anything to go by. This means, of course, that many audience members know the drama very well and might benefit from a different perspective illuminating the source material. Under the direction of Stephen Daldry and the visual design of Ian MacNeil, this is almost achieved. The play’s universal themes transcend time and place, after all; its exploration of self-interest versus socialism resonates particularly well with today’s politico-economic climate. But I would suggest that the adherence to a 1910 setting with its old-fashioned class structures, out-of-time vocabulary and stereotypes, prevents the play from shining quite as brightly as it might and retaining its relevance to new audiences.
Less of what would pass today as a thriller and perhaps more of a morality play, the audience are initially positioned as viewers, or perhaps voyeurs, of the well-to-do Birling family in their dining room, which the clever set design initially elevates well out of the gutter. The play starts with them celebrating an engagement, as we overhear and peep through the windows of the action. As the story unfolds, however, we see that the family are not merely flawed but have made terrible choices that have impacted on others. They clamber out of the undersized balcony door, like deliberate unwieldy caricatures, and make their way down to our murkier, more dilapidated level, their elevated status becoming lost and the unsightly truth of their lives put on display for all to see. Inspected by a man called Goole, who claims to represent the police and is certainly on a quest for justice, artifice is quite literally stripped away as the real is revealed. (The bride-to-be Sheila, for example, initially wears a shiny white dress which becomes muddied and stepped upon during the play’s duration, in parallel with the family’s true, shadowy colours being shown. Against her best efforts, she soon realises that she isn’t going to be able to get the mud off her shoes.)
The performance starts with air-raid sirens and a storm, heralding the as yet unknown threat of two World Wars whose dangers Priestley references in retrospect. Urchins play in dilapidated streets, and later look on as the Inspector interrogates, forming part of a later-20th-century gaze of accusing onlookers - the ordinary, the old, the young, the soldier, we the audience. It’s a refreshing take on the play and Daldry’s revival does as much as it can to wrench the drama out of its cosy Edwardian setting. It conveys an unsettling atmosphere which works extremely well as the pretence and pretensions of the family are dismantled.
The actors also do their best with the script, especially Chloe Orrock as Sheila, whose performance rightly holds together both the action and the tone of the piece whilst Liam Brennan’s thoughtful Inspector Goole acts as catalyst, at one point rolling up his sleeves as if going into physical battle. The play is wordy, though, and although its Three Acts are pared down into one continuous performance (without interval), it’s very dialogue-heavy. And even without an adult behind me persisting in rattling a bag of sweets at the most inopportune times (by contrast all the schoolkids were quiet and focused throughout) I found myself thinking that the actors could have benefited from microphones. It’s tough to project the verbose, repetitive monologues that Priestley demands of the cast. Their speeches and turns of phrase, whether upper-class scoffing or Inspector Goole’s rhetoric, can lose our interest. Although the stereotypes are invoked to make a point, there’s a lot of drawing-room hysteria and blether, not to mention melodrama. At times, it felt like I was watching a soap opera, and learning a lot less.
I would emphasise that this show is still a must-see. With a fine ensemble cast, great lighting and set design, good use of movement and staging and the revival’s interesting slant, it’s a fantastic attempt at unpacking a mid 20th century play. But, who knows - perhaps it’s time, given that this is a 30th anniversary production of a revival, to further update An Inspector Calls setting, vocabulary and characterisation. Without that, we’re in danger of newer audiences perceiving a parody of Edwardian England, and as this production and its actors show, this play can be so much more than that.
An Inspector Calls is on a UK Tour until May 2023. Heading to Leicester, Bromley, Dublin and more. Further information is here.
