An Inspector Calls At Theatre Royal Nottingham Review

Reviewed by Louise Edwards

Celebrating its 30th anniversary year with a UK and Ireland tour the classic JB Priestley thriller, An Inspector Calls, this week visits Nottingham Theatre Royal.

In those 30 years Director, Stephen Daldry’s production has won a vast plethora of awards. In fact this play has won more awards than any other play in history – 19 at the last count. Opening in 1992 at the National Theatre it has enjoyed a West End and Broadway run as well as international tours and has been seen by over 5 million theatregoers.

Priestley himself was a man of the people, a Soclialist at heart, who was opposed to the class system. The play was written after the 2nd world war but is set in 1912, before the first world war so there is a lot of dramatic irony, in that the audience knows what is going to happen that the characters are unaware of.

The theatre curtains are drawn and children dressed in 1940s attire, play in the rubble scavenging what they can. As the curtain goes up the stage is revealed looking like a post-apocalypse scene with the dining room of the smug Birling family perched cage like- precariously high in the rubble. Smoke curls around the darkness and Ian McNeill, the designer has created a powerful image along with Rick Fisher, Lighting Designer. The darkness is lit spookily with warm white lanterns creates a haunting atmosphere.

Inside the dining room we hear the Birling, dressed in typical 1910s upper class gowns and suits, are celebrating the engagement of their daughter, Sheila played magnificently by Chloe Orrock), to the older, established Gerald Croft (played by Simon Cotton, who excels in the role!). He is also a business man and factory owner in a similar line of work to Mr Birling (played by the amazing Jeffrey Harmer). They share a similar social circle and political views. Birling crushes the idea of “community” and “helping others” and tells Gerald and the younger Birling son, Eric (played excellently by George Rowlands) that a man must look out for himself. We are introduced to the characters as they come out onto the balcony, each displaying their personalities with Sheila’s kind looks to the children and Birling’s snobbery..

In the shadows of the stage beneath the dining room, we see the poverty striken children joined by Edna (played brilliantly by Frances Campbell), the housemaid to the Birlings greet Inspector Goole, who enters mysteriously from the stalls. Goole is listening in on the conversation before making his presence known to the inhabitants of the house.

Birling is first to be interrogated by the Inspector, who informs him of the suicide of Eva Smith, who he sacked 8 months previously for striking after he refused her a pay rise. Birling takes no responsibility, or remorse for the death but Goole is not going to let it lie and gradually each member of the party (apart from Edna!) is accused of having a role in the unfortunate demise of the girl..

Gradually the stage transforms as the dining room is flung open and a wobbly staircase constructed allowing the characters to all convene on the stage with dramatic results.

As a core GCSE English and Drama text it is a must for students who make up a large proportion of the theatre this evening.

Daldry and his team of amazing cast and creatives have created a powerful and memorable play which runs without interval for 1 hour and 45 minutes. The message is as relevant today, with the cost of living crisis, public sector strikes and billionaire bonuses, as it was 100 years ago. Definitely thought provoking and unmissable theatre.

Rating: 5/5

Tickets cost from £19.00

An Inspector Calls is on at Theatre Royal, Nottingham until Saturday 221 January 2023.
For more information or to book tickets visit https://trch.co.uk/whats-on/an-inspector-calls-22/
or call the box office on 0115 989 5555

Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall, Theatre Square, Nottingham, NG1 5ND

For further information on tour dates see https://aninspectorcalls.com/tour-dates