AN INSPECTOR CALLS, Priestley, Bham Rep till 8 Feb, then touring till July
AN INSPECTOR CALLS: JB Priestley
B'ham Rep till 8th February, then touring
Runs: 1h 50m, no interval, till 19 July
Review: Rod Dungate, 28 January 2003
It couldn't be more relevant powerful, extraordinary, though occasionally stretching the play beyond its limits.
Could anything be more pertinent at this time? 'We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish.' This is the Inspector making his exit. This is Priestley writing in 1944 towards the end of WW II.
Stephen Daldry redirects his shattering 1992 production for this six month tour. For the most part the play gains enormous stature from this massive production: we are forced to see Priestley's important work for what it is and not as what it had become a comfortable and safe rep theatre standard.
The social injustices, the dishonesty, the meanness of grabbing monied classes are shown for what they are 'Every man has to look after himself'. This is a highly stylised production and we tend to be distanced emotionally from the action, particularly since Daldry constantly deconstructs as he goes along. Even so, within this, the drama holds us: the opening images of poor children looking into a room where richly dressed, self-congratulatory toffs drink and gorge is touching, dragging us into the world of the play.
There's no doubt about it it's big, bold, theatrical, gripping stuff. I wonder though, if sometimes the production stretches the play beyond its own boundaries: that hysterical laughter sometimes becomes a gestural effect; the production occasionally topples over into empty melodrama; it become at times heavy handed and self-reverential?
Terrific performance all round. David Roper's Arthur Birling is a splendid affable, pompous, self-opinionated fool of a man a potent and dangerous mixture. Katherine Tozer's Sheila Birling is charming and (crucially) natural, a perfect, though surprised, ally to Inspector Goole. Nicholas Day's performance of a ramshackle Inspector has a fine shape to it he becomes someone really to be reckoned with. And a word for Diana Payne Myers's Edna a remarkable and vital presence in this, still, extraordinary production.
Inspector Goole: Nicholas Day
Sybil Birling: Sandra Duncan
Arthur Birling: David Roper
Gerald Croft: Dominic Taylor
Sheila Birling: Katherine Tozer
Eric Birling: Jamie de Courcey
Edna: Diana Payne Myers
Children: Amelia Douglas, Daniel Evans, Luke Galloway, Lauren McKay, Peter Mennell, Andrew Rollason
Supernumeraries: Marlene Addison, Gillian Arkell, Peter Arkell, Mary Helen Dawson, Sharum Gill, Alan Green, Sarah Greenan, Marge Jeavons, Frank Joyce, Gill Lovett, Eunice Mitchell, Patricia Murray, Gina Tiles
Director: Stephen Daldry
Associate Director: Julian Webber
Design: Ian MacNeil
Lighting: Rick Fisher
Music: Stephen Warbeck
Sound: Rod Mead
2003-01-29 12:25:08