Review by Paul Towers, 21/3/23
An Inspector Calls by JB Priestly
Directed by Stephen Baldry
Produced by The National Theatre
At Curve til 25 March 2023
“a spectacular production”
You know you are in for something special when, as the curtain rises, there is real rain pouring down and a huge cantilevered house dominating the stage.
I vaguely remember seeing An Inspector Calls as a secondary school production but I have to admit I didn’t pay much attention at the time. It was just an extra couple of hours out of lessons one afternoon.
This National Theatre touring production is, as expected, of the highest standard. A first rate cast of jobbing actors give solid performances. No star casting required here. Designer Ian MacNeil’s set is astonishing, a huge two storey house which unfolds to reveal the interior and which ultimately not only falls apart but then restores itself. Extraordinary.
Set in 1912, just before the First World War, it exposes the class hypocrisies of Victorian and Edwardian England as an upper middle class family living in the Midlands tears itself apart.
An Inspector (Liam Brennan) arrives unexpectedly and starts questioning the family about the suicide of a young, pregnant working girl. Arthur Birling (Jeffrey Harmer), the patriarch of the family is outraged that his family is being drawn into someone else’s tragedy. His wife Sybil (Christine Kavanagh) is all Edwardian grandeur and haughty disassociation from the problem. The interrupted family gathering is to celebrate the engagement of daughter Sheila (Chloe Orrock) to eminently eligible Gerald Croft (Simon Cotton). The Birling son, Eric (George Rowlands) is like an over-excited puppy, far too loud and lacking social graces.
As the Inspector questions the household secrets emerge and the family unit starts to crumble and ultimately fall apart. At that very moment the house itself symbolically disintegrates spectacularly.
The denouement, for those of us that had never studied the text or seen the play or film before, was unexpected and eerie.
This is a spectacular production of an 80 year old text which still has a resonance for modern audiences.
While the entire run at Curve is sold out the tour continues.
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