An Inspector Calls

Nearly 20 years on, Stephen Daldry's grotesquely original take on Priestley's socially crusading drama is still vivid. As generations of English schoolchildren know, Priestley's mysterious Inspector Goole calls on the prosperous Birling family in order to expose the role each of them has played in the suicide of a working class girl. In Daldry's production their house occupies a no-man's land between 1912 (when the play is set), 1946 (when it was first performed) and current theatrical reality: the moments when the actors address the audience as if they're conscious of the melodrama they are condemned to take part in, have helped to keep Priestley's inquiry relevant over time. And the cast make their journey from comic oppressors to broken sinners entertaining. Daldry's extra chorus of poorly shod extras drive the political point home: we are all involved in humanity whether we like it or not.