© Elizabeth Faint Doyle, 1996.
Stephen Daldry's production of J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls, currently playing at The Garrick Theatre, St. Martin's Lane, London, is an interesting example of a basically naturalistic play being staged expressionistically. Having examined the text, one would expect to find the first scene of An Inspector Calls opening on a dining room set, with appropriate furniture and without extraneous action. What we actually get is a far cry from our naturalistic expectations. Expressionism presents a view of the world as we know it as seen from a subjective, hyper-emotive perspective, and this is exactly what has been interpreted into the staging of An Inspector Calls.
The scenery immediately leads the viewer into a series of questions - why is there a tiny, grotesquely angled house, raised up on stilts? What is the purpose of the relative isolation of the house; its obvious warmth and luxury in comparison to the dark, miserable, steaming street below? Taking the expressionistic viewpoint, one can begin to connote that the purpose is to parallel the physical separation with the social superiority of the inhabitants of the house, the newly-rich Birlings, who not only revel in their supposed superiority, but are keen to increase it, by way of a knighthood in the next Honours list. This is exactly in keeping with the sentiments expressed in the play; the staging interprets and makes explicit that which is implicit. It also makes interesting viewing of a play which would otherwise have been very sedentary. The staging alerts the audience to the underlying themes of the play, inviting them to take a more active role in the determination of meaning through the signs they are shown.
This expressionistic production allows space to be used in a very abstract way: illustrating and maintaining the notion of 'social' space, especially of the Birlings trying to emphatically distance themselves from their origins. The house being on stilts forces each of the characters (Arthur, Sheila, Gerald, Sybil and Eric) to come down 'from the clouds' and relinquish their elevated status; they are brought to street level to recognise their contribution to the downfall of the generic humanity figure of Eva Smith, because neither the street nor the house can be totally separate zone - they are physically linked to each other. As each character is questioned, the closer they come to the audience, the more it is possible to see the processes of each character's conscience at play (if their conscience is affected at all). It is no coincidence that only Sheila and Eric come very close to the audience and show awareness of the presence of the audience: the members of which were appealed to as if they were a jury and indeed, the way the boards of the stage merged into the audience space exemplified this idea.. Sheila and Eric have descended from ignorance into knowledge, they can see the wider social implications of their actions and preserve that knowledge even when the others go back into the house and try to paper over the cracks, pretending that because nothing really happened: i.e. because the Inspector was shown not to be genuine, their own actions are no longer questionable, guilt need not be felt, nor life altered in any way.
This isolation of the Birlings' house from the house in the background brings two ideas into play. Firstly, to perpetuate the Birlings' idea that their actions have no effect on anyone else: their privacy is important. They see themselves as superior and even though there are neighbours in proximity, the relative distance of the house reinforces the Birlings' feelings of self-importance. Secondly, the same house opens up the possibility that what is happening in the Birlings' home could also be being mirrored there and elsewhere, allowing the audience to formulate the abstract notion of the stage play reflecting a much wider sphere - that of society in general and the abuse of one class by another, more privileged one.
The performances of the actors, especially the major characters, was much more realistic than the setting. Stereotypical images of the various members of the family were very well put across. The reactions of Sheila and Eric, upon realisation of their parts in the downfall of Eva Smith, were that of guilt, shock and horror, and the representation of internal stresses was clear. However, it seemed that this was exclusive to those characters who allowed themselves to become aware of the situation in hand. Arthur and Sybil Birling, Gerald Croft and the Inspector gave rather larger-than-life performances: large gestures and outbursts of emotion. The actions of the Inspector himself were very definite and methodical. His removal of various items of apparel was quite comical to watch, but a little macabre. It felt as if, throughout the performance, Inspector Goole was aligning himself further and further away from the Birlings, and it was a little unsettling to see this process in action, performed with such solidity and relentlessness. It was also noted that Sheila and Eric Birling removed clothing, probably for the same reasons.
The costumes of most of the text-based characters, i.e. those characters whose presence is acknowledged in the text of the play, were set in the expected time period - 1912. Luxury and elegance plus richness of colour and texture were all used to equate the Birlings to their social standing. Mother and daughter, although both richly dressed, were contrasted in colour - Sheila in virginal white and Sybil in devilish, worldly red. Arthur and Eric Birling and Gerald Croft were the definitive gentlemen in traditional evening suits. However, in contrast, Inspector Goole and the shadowy, anonymous figures who appeared in the later stages of the play and the children who were present throughout the play were all in 1940's style clothing, possibly representing the time when the play was written. Concurring with this idea was the use of the more modern red telephone box, complete with 1945 telephone directory, which dominated the left hand side of the stage, all of which induced the impression of informed hindsight: what can we learn by looking to the past?.
The special effects and props employed in this production of An Inspector Calls were fairly spectacular, when considered in relation to the original text of the play. This did not detract from their effectiveness. When the house tilted forward and all the contents came spilling out and crashed to the floor, with flashes of light and sound effects, it did produce the desired interpretation of the Birlings' world 'falling about their ears', so to speak. Introducing elements such as this was very much in keeping with the rationale of an expressionistic production, but also spoke of commercialisation. It is logical to presume that such a 'gimmick' could only enhance the reputation and popularity of the play through public word-by-mouth advertising and given that the current location of An Inspector Calls is the West End, it can be questioned how far such details are included for the purposes of economic viability rather than artistic expression.
Various themes within the play linked together and began to strengthen. The house 'falling about their ears' reminded one of the 'Blitz', as did the blankets and the ghostly figures' costumes, the telephone box and so on, returning to the 1940's time scale. There was the sound of an air raid siren at the beginning of the play. All these images and abstractions deliver us into a whole series of connotations about the Second World War - the English family at war - the basis of the economy and the social structures and norms changing - all sections of society uniting against a common enemy. From these ideas it is possible to theorise that An Inspector Calls may have been written as a hope for the future, and also as a warning against going back to the old ways based on an exploitative hierarchical society. Unfortunately, a third time scale exists: that of the current audiences viewing the play from a 1996 perspective, having come through the war and seen things revert to much the same as they were in a lot of ways, yet still producing a minority of people with more humanitarian views. The 1996 audiences have come through the Conservative Thatcher era - a quote in the programme for the play demonstrates this perspective:
"There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families" (Margaret Thatcher, Woman's Own, 31st October 1987)
The themes in An Inspector Calls, although written in the 1940's and based in 1912, are still, sadly, incredibly relevant in today's society. Even though we have evolved from those times, social indifference is still the predominant influence. Lessons could have been learned from the past and a new future should have been created. This has not happened, and it is beyond the scope of this analysis to determine the reasons why. It is sufficient to say that An Inspector Calls illuminates the problems and offers food for thought. Contrary to Margaret Thatcher's view of no such thing as society existing, An Inspector Calls is about all families and all individuals; this wider implication shows that it presents a microcosm of a multiplicity of societies.