Directing A New Production Of An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestly

Directing A New Production Of An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestly,

With Special Reference To Act Two, Page 33 (in Heinemann Plays An

Inspector Calls), And The Characters Of The Inspector And Mrs. Birling

The two characters that I have chosen - the in

The two characters that I have chosen from the play, 'An Inspector

Calls', are the Inspector and Mrs. Birling. I chose these characters

because they have very contrasting personalities.

The Inspector is called 'Goole', which symbolises a ghoul and reflects

on his personality. He is very probing when he asks the family

questions and obviously has experience with 'interrogating' people. He

is very direct and quite blunt when he is questioning the Birling

family. In the BBC video version of the play, it was quite obvious

that the Inspector was not a normal man as soon as he entered the

room. This may have been helped by dramatic music, but it was also

evident in the play.

"The Inspector enters, and Edna goes, closing the door after her. The

Inspector need not be a big man but he creates at once an impression

of massiveness, solidity and purposefully… He speaks carefully,

weightily, and has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person

he addresses before actually speaking."

As soon as the Inspector enters the room, the other characters are

immediately aware of this "impression of massiveness". In the BBC

video the Inspector was quite an old man and he looked feeble in a

way, but he still created this effect when he spoke to the other

characters. He seems to have a gift to be able to make people feel

uncomfortable and guilty when he wants.

"INSPECTOR: 'That's more or less what I was thinking earlier tonight,

when I was in the infirmary looking at what was left of Eva Smith. A

nice little promising life there, I thought, and a nasty mess

somebody's made of it.'

BIRLING looks as if he is about to make some retort, then thinks

better of it, and goes out, closing the door sharply behind him.

GERALD and ERIC exchange uneasy glances. The INSPECTOR ignores them."

This is a particularly good quote because it shows the Inspector's way

of speaking and the character's reactions to him. It seems that Mr

Birling cannot even confront the Inspector and has to leave the room,

even though Mr Birling was Lord Mayor which gives him authority over a

Police Inspector, and is of a higher class than the Inspector, which

should give him confidence.

Mrs Birling is the quiet wife of the successful owner of Birling and

Co. She is a very high-class lady who could be described as 'posh'.