‘An Inspector Calls’ by J.B.Priestley

How has watching a production of ‘An Inspector Calls’ by J.B.Priestley

enhanced the script and furthered your understanding of the play? Refer

to themes and characters in your analysis.

‘An Inspector Calls’ – J.B. Priestley

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Twentieth Century Drama Coursework

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Task: How has watching a production of ‘An Inspector Calls’ by

J.B.Priestley enhanced the script and furthered your understanding of

the play? Refer to themes and characters in your analysis.

Following my reading of ‘An Inspector Calls’ by J.B.Priestely, I went

to the theatre to see Daldry’s production. I found that watching the

play on stage massively enhanced the script and furthered my

understanding of the play. The use of scenery, sound, lighting,

special effects, the actors and their actual movement about the stage

all emphasised Priestley’s moral message of the play, which he felt

was so necessary to express.

The play ‘An Inspector Calls’ was written by J.B.Priestley in the

winter of 1944-1945, when Priestley, as explained in his biography by

Vincent Brome, had “an idea about a mysterious inspector visiting a

family... before the (second world) war.” The entire play was written

“at top speed,...” and finished within a week. Even though the play

was written in 1945, it was set in 1912 and written on a basis of

Priestley’s early influences in life. His childhood home was a place

where socialist ideas thrived and he had a real experience of working

class life through numerous visits to his grandparent’s house in

narrow backstreets behind a mill factory.

J.B.Priestley was very interested in politics, but could not agree

completely with the policies of any one political party. One of the

main reasons for him writing ‘An Inspector Calls’ was to put the

labour party into authority. He was a socialist and based his views

and actions on compassion, the sort of compassion that the Inspector

wants to see in those he questions in the play.

Brumley, where the play is set, is a large manufacturing town in the

Midlands. In 1912 nearly 15 million people lived in large towns and

cities. Most people worked in manufacturing industries, mining,

transport and trade. England had huge social divisions, based largely

on wealth and income. Priestley replicates this scenario when first

describing t...

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...outside of his safe world, inside of the house, to answer it.

This signifies that he cannot escape reality and must face up to his

actions.

Finally, in order to show the that morals and meanings of the play are

still relevant for a modern day audience, in Daldry’s production, the

house lights are switched on for the Inspector’s speech and the core

message of the play he has to deliver. Even though you may be

watching how the Birlings have misbehaved, this is a reminder to the

audience that no one should behave as they did and always face up to

their responsibilities, which is the message Priestley wanted to

convey in his play of “An Inspector Calls”.

To conclude, I found that watching a production of “An Inspector

Calls” immensely enhanced and furthered my understanding of the play,

in many ways as explained and analysed thoroughly in this essay.

Although Priestley’s ideas were noted when reading the play in class,

I felt they were conveyed more emotionally had much more meaning when

acted. All plays are supposed to acted in order convey the meanings

of them in this way and I found Daldry’s production created that

emotion and meaning extremely effectively.