The lighting plays a significant role in the play as it helps to create moods. There is a long stage direction at the beginning of Act One, where it states, “The lighting should be pink and intimate until the INSPECTOR arrives, and then it should be brighter and harder…” There are many connotations of the colour pink, for example, spring, gratitude, appreciation, admiration, sympathy, socialism, femininity, love, romance, marriage, joy, flirtatiousness and innocence, therefore conveying the Birlings as caring, loving people. However, when the Inspector arrives, the light becomes brighter and harder. This may be to suggest that the arrival of the Inspector will uncover secrets and light up the darkness. It can also be associated with a spotlight as each member of the Birling family is soon questioned under this bright light. This would interest and involve the audience in the play as it helps to emphasize the presence of the Inspector, therefore making the audience want to see the events that will unfold.
The use of the doorbell as a sound effect in ‘An Inspector Calls’ interests the audience as it occurs at a key moment in the play. The stage direction that describes the doorbell is: “We hear the sharp ring of a front door bell. BIRLING stops to listen.” The ringing of the doorbell is the cue for the change in mood. The doorbell rings just as Birling is talking about community, and that we have to look after ourselves. A quote from this part in Act One is: “…you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive-community and all that nonsense.” The reason why Priestley decides to interrupt Birling here is to accentuate the significance of the person at the door. The fact that the door bell is so impulsive and that Birling stops talking and listens enhances the effect. Also, it suggests that Birling has a guilty conscience about something, which is why he seems anxious. This sound effect would interest the audience as they would want to know who is at the door.
The character of Eva Smith has great significance as she has a different effect on the characters when she is introduced. The first person that she is introduced to is Birling. The Inspector shows him a photograph of her where the stage direction reads, “BIRLING stares hard, and with recognition, at the photograph, which the INSPECTOR then replaces in his pocket.” Birling reacts in a suspicious way, as he stares at the picture for a long time but then becomes very cool and relaxed in his tone. This suggests that he may have a guilty conscience and that he may be hiding something. However, Sheila immediately gives herself away. When she sees the picture of Eva, she is very sympathetic and horrified. Moreover, Eva’s presence on stage is very strong, even though the audience never actually sees her. Priestley does this through the reactions of the characters towards her and also due to the fact that the whole family is interlinked by one person. Furthermore, Eva has a strong presence on stage as she is a symbol for all of women kind. She was severely mistreated by the Birling family but many women in 1912 were also treated like this. Also, her name could be linked to the Bible story of Genesis, in which Eve is depicted as weaker than Adam. In addition, Smith was a common surname in 1912, which also implies that she stood for all of woman kind.
Stage directions in ‘An Inspector Calls’ are used to create a dramatic effect on the mood and atmosphere of the play. A quote from the play to support this is “…she didn’t exactly go out on the streets. (SHEILA has now entered).” It is not the way that Sheila enters that has the effect; it is the moment that she enters. The Inspector just stops saying that Eva Smith did not intentionally leave her home and Sheila enters at that moment. This suggests to the audience that she is also linked to the Eva Smith case but when she eventually enters the room, she begins questioning people about their conversation. This would imply that she has doubts and her anxiety is causing her to become more curious. This affects the drama on stage as all of the attention is immediately diverted to her. Upon her entrance, the tense atmosphere is lightened for an instant. Moreover, the ending of Act One creates tension and suspense as it is a cliff-hanger ending. After the stage direction that reads “The door slowly opens and the INSPECTOR appears, looking steadily and searchingly at them,” the Inspector appears and says “Well?” very questioningly. Just as the scene ends, the audience can assume that Gerald is next being questioned by the Inspector as his involvement in the play increases at this point. Before Act One ended, Sheila began to question Gerald and accuses him of cheating on her with Eva Smith, whose name had changed to Daisy Renton. As a result, the audience would become more involved and interested in the play for the reason that they would become inquisitive of the events to come. They would want to know more of Gerald’s involvement in the play as he is portrayed as quite a well-mannered and polite man.
Priestley uses the main characters in the play to further his moral and political message. In the quote “(Rather distressed) Sorry! It’s just that I can’t help thinking about this girl-destroying herself so horribly”, Sheila is justifying her reaction towards Eva. She feels sympathetic and guilty towards Eva. Sheila responded to the Inspector whenever he asked her a question. On the other hand, Birling is very defensive when asked a question. He tried to deny all accusations made against him. However, when he was asked a question, he remained relatively composed and always gave a straight answer. The reaction of Sheila suggests that she felt more sympathy and guilt rather than Birling, who is more difficult to read, as he did not give any details or clues away to the Inspector. Moreover, out of the Birling family, Priestley chose Sheila, the young woman, to be the one who showed some understanding. This may link to his concerns and ideas where he believed that women are equal to men and that everyone has a responsibility for each other. Also, the reason he chose Sheila my have been that she represents the modern woman, who does not stand down and be dominated by men, but spoke for herself. Priestley wished to convey his message to people to educate them and to make sure that the same mistakes that people in 1912 made are not repeated again. The audience would be quite surprised at the way Sheila showed understanding as they may have expected a male character to do this instead. However, this would have interested the audience as there is a dramatic change in character for Sheila, as she becomes more forthright rather than before where she was portrayed as quite ‘lady-like’ and spoilt.
In conclusion, Priestley uses a variety of dramatic devices to convey his concerns and ideas to members of the audience, as well as interest and involve them in the play with a varied use of dramatic devices. There is a lot of dramatic irony used in the play which relates to events that had taken place between 1912 and 1945 which is used to make us dislike Birling. The reason Priestley wanted us to do so was that Birling represents the opposite of Priestley’s views and morals, but it was mainly because Priestley did not want us to respect people with immoral views such as Birling. The Inspector is the subconscious version of Priestley, and Priestley uses the Inspector to teach the Birlings about responsibility as well as teach the audience. The characters’ actions and the consequences that came from them were used by Priestley to convey his message subliminally. Moreover, the dramatic devices also help to interest and involve the audience as well as conveying Priestley’s ideas. The dramatic irony used may help to engage the audience as it may humour some to see the contrasting opinions in 1912 from 1945. Also, the use of a cliff-hanger ending makes the audience curious and causes them to want to know more of the events to come. Lastly, Priestley’s message could be interpreted in many ways such as not to lie and be honest and that power should be used with care and not abused. However, his key message is that we all are part of one community and that we all have a responsibility towards each other. The message can still be understood by a modern day audience, due to its relevance throughout society even today. The reason that it is still relevant is that everyone has roles in society, for example, the police help to protect and serve our community, doctors help to cure and heal us and teachers are there to help students learn and perform well in life. As a result, we are all dependent on one another.
