What I Saw:
For my Unit 1 Part C of Silver Arts Award I went with my mum to see An Inspector Calls by JB Priestly at the Congress Theatre in Eastbourne on the 12th November 2024 at 7pm. It was a live theatre production, and this is only the second time I’ve been to the theatre to see a play (excluding pantomimes) and it was the first time I’d read the book before going to see the play.
We sat in Row B seats 19 & 20 in the grand circle which afforded a fabulous view of the stage, with only one row in front of us. The tickets were quite expensive for a local venue, it was £29 for a child and £39 for an adult. My ticket:
Before The Play:
Before the play began, the atmosphere was lively and it was full of teenagers in school groups coming to see the play for their GCSEs with their teachers.
It was a large theatre, and most seats were filled so the fullness contributed to the busy atmosphere and before the play began it was alive with chatter. We arrived about 8 minutes before the performance began, and we had enough time to go to the toilet and find our seats while still leaving adequate time before the curtain lifted for us to sort out our coats/bags.
There was a loud noise like a siren to signal the beginning of the play, and 3 children were in front of the curtain, playing, but then when the curtain lifted the children then played on the stage- I found this a bit confusing as they weren’t mentioned in the play.
An Overall Look:
The plot of An Inspector Calls is all about the working and Upper Class in 1910’s Britain. It scrutinises the facade that the Upper Class tried to uphold, that they were blameless individuals and better people than everyone else below them in society. There are only 7 main characters;
Eva Smith/Daisy Renton: Doesn’t appear on stage. A poor working class young lady with no parents and who had to fight for her survival but was brought to the point of suicide by each character. She was young and good looking with a naturally happy disposition. She dies after swallowing some disinfectant in an infirmary (hospital).
Mr Birling: Head of the Birling family, in his 60’s, and tried to make himself seem more important than he actually was by reminding the Inspector he was Lord Mayor 2 years ago and would possibly get a knighthood. He starts the domino effect of Eva’s downfall by sacking her from his company for wanting a pay rise.
Sheila Smith: The daughter of Mr & Mrs Birling, a young lady who had been brought up in a privileged household, and who was quite highly strung but a caring person. She sacked Eva from an expensive clothes store on the grounds of jealousy.
Gerald Croft: The fiance of Sheila, the son of a wealthy businessman and with family connections. He found Eva in a bar when she was poor and jobless and gave her a home in his friend’s apartment and money but made her his mistress and then had to turn her out when his friend came bac to live in his home.
Eric Birling: The son of Mr & Mrs Birling, sister of Sheila, excitable and nervous, thought to be innocent by his parents but secretly addicted to alcohol. During the play his secrets are revealed, and along with being an alcoholic, he also made Eva pregnant, much to the devastation of his mother.
Mrs Birling: The wife of Mr Birling and mother of Eric and Sheila, she came from a wealthy family and was the stereotypical posh Englishwoman who thinks she’s better than everyone else. She was the head of a charity that helped deprived poor women, and used her influence to turn Eva away when she came to the charity for help with her pregnancy, because she disliked her after Eva gave her name as Mrs Birling along with lots of other lies and put on airs.
The Inspector Goole: A gentleman who states he is a police Inspector who calls on the house of the Birling home when they were having a celebratory meal in honour of Sheila & Gerald engagement. He gradually unpicks the family, but stays calm- like the eye of a storm. After revealing all their secrets to each other he ends by saying that there are hundreds of poor, everyone is important no matter if they have money or not, and should be cared for. After he leaves it turns out he wasn’t a police inspector after all, and that no one had died in the infirmary after swallowing disinfectant.
At the end of the play, after the Inspector has left, after learning that they weren’t to blame for the death of a specific girl, Mr & Mrs Birling & Gerald all go back to before, drinking and joking while Sheila and Eric still can’t ignore what they’ve all done separately. The play ends with a phone ringing and Mr Birling answering. It’s from the police, and they say a girl has just died on the way to the Infirmary from swallowing disinfectant and a police inspector is on the way to ask some questions. The curtain drops.
What I Enjoyed:
I enjoyed the use of music to create suspense and drama, it jarred or intensified, mirroring the discord of the family during the interrogation.
I was impressed by the actor who played Eric, especially when he was drunk. He shook and acted desperate in a very believable way. I also liked the costumes, especially Erics when he returned to the house with a torn shirt. Mrs Birling costume was also very impressive, especially her hair do, which included a very posh looking black ribbon with gems in- she looked exactly how I imagined.
When everyone had been decimated by the Inspector, the house on the stage that contained the dining table collapsed, and I took this as a representation of the lives they had built up being destroyed. And when they thought they weren’t to blame for Eva’s downfall, Mr & Mrs Birling & Gerald all pushed the house back into place and tried to pretend nothing had happened- trying to make things the way they were before the Inspector called.
At the end, when Mr Birling had listened to the phone call from the police, he simply dropped the phone on the stage floor- to me this cleverly represented dropping a bombshell.
What I Would Do Differently/ Didn’t Enjoy:
Personally, I felt that the Inspector was overplayed. In the book he was calm and restrained, and he was the one who made all the others' facade unravel. I viewed the Inspector as a more of a metaphor of their consciences, and less of a human with emotions. However the Inspector in the performance displayed agitation and frustration along with other emotions which, in my opinion, made him too human. He even shouted at some points, and I felt this was highly unnecessary as true power and presence doesn’t need shouting.
There wasn’t an intermission halfway, even though this wasn’t too disruptive, there was adequate points in the play for an interval, and it would have been nice to have been made aware of this beforehand, as we could have purchased refreshments before the play began, but as we didn’t know, and thought we could get them halfway through, we missed out. I would have included an intermission.
There were parts of the play that were exaggerated, e.g. there was some fighting between Eric and Mr Birling that was slightly OTT.
There were a few extra people walking around the stage; Children, Nurses, Maids. I think that that detracted from the raw and poignant simplicity of the play that contributed to its powerful effect. If I had produced the play, I would have just had the 6 characters (all listed above, except Eva Smith) and would have staged it just in a dining room.
I felt that, although the characters were cast well, there were lots of unnecessary additions, and although I appreciate some individuality, there were too many differences to a point where I found it distracting. The play is powerful enough without metaphoric additions and extra actors. I would have kept it as simply as possible.
Artistic Effect:
After watching An Inspector Calls, I felt compelled to start acting, as the performances from all the actors were very moving. I especially would have loved to play Sheila, as the way she became slightly hysterical and over reactive would be very enjoyable to act.
I also felt inspired to write a play with a similar moral lesson and powerful effect. Watching it/ reading it showed me that you don't need a lot of characters to create an interesting storyline, and there doesn't need to be many different sets in a play, in fact in my opinion it's better if there is just one, like in An Inspector Calls.
I may have a look around my local area and see if there are any drama groups or lessons as I would really like to start doing drama, and maybe even one day be in a production of An Inspector Calls!
Finally, the various costumes really inspired me, especially Mrs Birlings as I feel like it was very accurate to her era and class, and this inspired me to think about costume design in theatre, and I would really enjoy designing costumes and also creating them. This is something I'd like to study in the future, and it's something I had never considered before.
Others Opinion/Sharing With Others:
At the end of the play, the applause from everyone was deafening. The curtain lowered on the concluding scene, applause, then the curtain was raised, the cast stood in a line holding hands, more applause, the curtain lowered for the final time and even more applause- even some whistles. Judging by this, the whole audience had thoroughly enjoyed the performance, myself included. Speaking to my mum afterwards, we both agreed that it was acted and produced well, she had criticisms about the Inspector and extra characters, and had seen it some years ago when studying for her GCSE but still said that she had enjoyed the whole experience. I have shared my review with friends and family, on VoiceMag and on a social group discussion.
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