At the beginning of the play, J.B. Priestley gives a very elaborate and detailed amount of stage settings, lighting and character descriptions. These were so detailed as Priestley wanted the mood of the first scene to linger through out the whole play. For example "The general effect is substantial and heavily comfortable, but not cosy and home like." This was obviously taken in to account in the television production, as the extremely large table was the central point of the beginning. The size of the table showed that although the characters were a family, they were not close, not even to eat and celebrate with each other.

The wealth of the family was portrayed extremely well in the television production. The set was authentic and traditional to the early twentieth century. The rich colours and costumes were excellent ways of showing the wealth of the characters. They were also portrayed very well to be pleased with themselves, just as in the stage direction at the beginning.

The stage production at the Victoria Theatre in Woking had an impressively sinister set, shrouded in smoke, wh

‘Just let me finish, Eric. You’ve a lot to learn yet. And I’m talking as a hard-headed, practical man of business.’

An Inspector calls uses many, if not all of the essentials for a detective story. The interrogation is the central part to the whole play, used to develop the plot and keep the story running. It creates the effects required of a detective story whilst teaching us something in the process. Priestley’s combination of reality and the extraordinary is ingenious and he uses valuable theories to help craft the detective story convention.

The play is hard-hitting on the audience, as there may well be people that can relate to the Birling parent’s status and therefore have to ask themselves how they would react in such a situation, (no matter how extreme it may seem). Questions arise, like ‘How would I have treated Eva Smith?’ ‘Would I have accepted the blame?’ ‘What are my beliefs on the subject of community?’ ‘Am I a Mr. Birling or an Inspector Goole in my beliefs?’ and ‘Has the world’s attitude changed at all from 1912, to this day?’ There are so many questions that are designed to help the audience to help themselves. Mr. Birling’s views are portrayed as wrong and the Inspector’s are right. So, if the world still hasn’t learned the valuable lesson, then it will be forced to learn it again and again and again in ‘fire and blood and anguish’ until it understands.

‘We are members of one body, we are responsible for each other.’ This is a sentence taken from the inspector’s last speech and it sums up exactly what Priestly was trying to get across. The speech would have been performed in a very serious manner and with a commanding tone, spoken slowly and carefully so the audience would get the full, dramatic impact. This way Priestley’s aim would come across in a good way. ‘Good night.’ A polite and almost mocking final word to the family. Because of the Inspector’s discoveries, they cannot possibly have a ‘good’ night, but one that they will remember as probably one of the worst nights in their lives.

The penultimate twist in the play is near the end, when the Birling’s discover that the inspector was not a real inspector after all. This is obviously different to a typical detective thriller because the inspectors are just there to uncover the truth. In an inspector calls however, the inspector probably represents truth or justice as the voice of Priestley. Nobody knows about the inspector’s physical form but it is certain that he is teaching the audience about socialism.

Some topics in this essay:
JB Priestley, Eva Smith, Capitalist Empire, Theatre Woking, Inspector Goole, Eva Sheila, Inspector Calls’, Eva Smith’s, Inspector Priestley’s, Gerald Croft, detective thriller, eva smith, television production, commits sin, inspector’s speech, inspector calls, inspector goole, jb priestley, stage production, detective story, seven deadly sins, inspector stage production, deadly sins play, inspector television production, television production inspector,