When the house opened up (and the audience could properly view the elaborate fittings of the Birling dining room) the Birling were awakened to the wider world and were forced out of their comfortable surroundings. A further extension on this idea was when the Birling family was forced out of the house down to the street - when the shocking news was brought out into the open.
Outside the Birling house, amidst the rubble-like street, was a phone box. This was a very perceptive idea of this production. Rather than making the phone calls from a home phone, like in other productions, the phones were made from an exterior phone box. This made the audience think deeper about the reason for having it. The phone box was amidst an unclean, filthy streetscape that looked like the aftermath of a war in some respects, and yet was still intact. Could this mean that it was the agent of such destruction - as it was to the Birling family? That could have been a deliberate link made by the director, showing how a potent such a mundane item could have been in bringing the Birling family back down to reality. Another noticeable "adjustment" made to the phone box was it's exaggerated size and scale. In fact it was almost as large as the Birlings house - showing its relevance to the play and the major, important part it played in the play as a whole and in particular, the Birling family's fall.
The rain and lighting effects in this particular production played an important role. The people caught underneath the rain were mainly the working classes, with the exception of Sheila, showing how much the working classes had to suffer in comparison to the upper classes. As mentioned earlier, Sheila was the only one of the Birlings to be affected by the rain, since she was the only member of the family who seemed to be affected by the conditions of life for the lower classes. She is affected by the rain and causes her to become even more distressed and uptight. The rain, quite a depressing and down-heartening object, represented her emotions and the tears of her sorrow.
Another unique idea of this particular performance was having children on the stage. The children, normally portrayed as very innocent, added a new depth to the play. The innocence not only contrasting with the crime committing Birling family, but also representing hope and good will. Before the play, when the children were lifting up the curtain and when they were investigating the phone box, showed how children are very inquisitive. Inquisitive in their very manner, always wanting answers to the questions they ask, and how they are quite nosy. The children seemed to be from working class backgrounds and looked in quite a bad state, illustrating a great difference between them and the Birling family. However, at the end of a play, one of the children sits at the table in the house, wearing the inspector's hat, a great improvement from how he started. Similarly, Birling started out his business quite small and built up to be where he was before the play.
In a similar use to children and quite often linked to the children, this production used people on stage. They appeared during the section just after when Eric had been questioned and at the point when Eric and Sheila were being greatly affected by the inspector. They stood at one side of the stage (covering the entire of stage right) opposite to the Birling family, with Eric stood in the middle. Setting up a scene of great intensity and also curiosity, leaving the audience pondering what the idea behind that scene was and what was happening. This was an addition to the original text and quite a memorable moment. The people all seemed to be victims of the war, with the exception of the soldier (who was a partaker in the war), which could help to outline Birling's ignorance - "the Germans don't want war" - and also could be an outlook on the grim future. The people seemed to be from all different backgrounds, and seemed to cover a wide range of the world's people; representing the whole world looking at the Birlings. However, another explanation for their existence, is that they were supposed to be Eric and Sheila's conscience at this time of doubt and trauma. The people were all of the working class, perhaps encouraging the abolishment of the class system. However, the people could represent Eva Smith and John Smith, acting on behalf of them, being used to pledge the worthiness of this family against the cruel acts they had paid to Eva Smith.
This production made great use of Edna as a non-speaking actor. Non-speaking is a term used loosely on this occasion, because she does in fact have a few lines. It appears that Edna in this production is portrayed as being from the working class, this is particularly noticeable in the contrast of clothing between the Birling's expensive-looking garments and her over-worn maids gown. The class barrier between her and the Birlings is further extended by the fact that she never actually enters their house, performing her chores and answering the door from on the street. Whether this is because she is not permitted to enter or whether she does not feel worthy. She is hard working and never seems at rest from her exhausting chores. Her humble, slow manner; her way of movement and how she holds her head (downwards); shows how she is seemingly neglected by the Birlings and is downtrodden in the class hierarchy. However, she is unperturbed by the Birlings cruelty; she continues to work hard and does not lose heart. She shows kindness towards the children and talks to them.
The inspector in this production did not seem consistent in his acting. He did not speak at a steady pace and often loses track of himself. He often spoke too quickly and lost his lines. He did not implement an unnerving aura as had been expected and in someways mentioned in the script. He did not appear overly calm and relaxed, like it states in the text. He does not build up to a state of impatience and fury, but instead starts with one. He seems to always speak in raised volume and gets caught up in his speech. This was a rather unfortunate lapse in the play's consistency of originality.
However, to make up for one slightly off-the-mark performance, the production had some well-acted and co-ordinated performances by Sheila and Gerald. In particular, Sheila played her role excellently. She did not get caught up in her speech and did not lose lines. She controlled her voice and volume brilliantly. She made great use of stage positioning, always keeping one eye on the audience to keep them involved. She argued her opinion with the other characters with ease, keeping into consideration temperance levels and anger at that particular time, raising her voice when necessary.
All accolades are not all directed at Sheila, that would not be fair, since she did not run the show and the performance would not have been without the others. The rest of the cast played their roles well and acted to a reasonable standard, in particular Gerald. He did not seem fully in the action at times but when he did enter the scenes fully, he acted with panache and an elaborate style. He played his character and adapted him to be how he found him. He had a unique style of panning in out of the performance, even wavering in and out of action. Having spells of brilliance, in particular when he was arguing the Birling's innocent and the hoax inspector; followed by dormancy. Therefore, he cannot be totally acclaimed due to lack of consistency.
The performance implemented great use of "asides". Members of the cast, in particular Sheila and the inspector, made great use of sometimes focussing all their attention on the audience. For example, when Sheila was contesting her innocence about how she had Eva Smith fired from her job due to jealousy. She sympathised with them whilst the lights spotlighted her. It seemed that the rest of the cast and the stage were not necessary at that particular time, encouraging the audience to pay full attention to her. Another great use of asides was for the Inspectors final speech, yet again; the lights dimmed the rest of the stage and cast. He spoke directly to the audience and yet the speech seemed intended to be spoken towards the family. This helped to add a peculiar twist and was truly magnificent. A great climax and exit on behalf of the inspector.
The performance at The Playhouse on the 24th October was greatly received by its audience. The audience seemed to be really enjoying the performance and were taken on a journey across a short space of time, perhaps only a few hours, that was described and depicted in great detail. The audience did not have any complaints of the performance and respected the theatre etiquette. The audience did not pay unnecessary insult to the cast involved and applauded the bows. The audience exited peacefully and quietly. They showed respect to the play and did not seem to have any complaints.
I was a member of that audience and in fact quite enjoyed the performance. It gave me a new perspective of how the play had been perceived. I had read the text and seen a televised production of the same play. All built up to give a wider perspective of how the play could have received. The playwright's ideals and hopes of a collapse of the class system had been carried through this production and had been extended on. Giving the play a refreshing, innovative depth.
The collapse of the house represented the Birling's little world collapsing before their eyes and levelled them to the lower class. This introduced equality in a rather harsh and abrupt manner; however, it needed that introduction to get through to people that the upper classes would fall. That came suddenly to me and I could imagine what times must have been like. The performance used perspective in an intriguing manner that helped show how small the upper classes were, how ignorant the upper classes were and how unwilling to adapt the upper classes were.
I do not feel that I was alone in enjoying the performance on the 24th October at The Playhouse Theatre and I hope that others also gained from it in a way similar to how I had been affected and in some ways enlightened about conditions of the past. I am thankful for the conditions of life nowadays…
