There are very few similarities between Mr. Birling and her daughter Shelia. It is showed by how they use their language. Mr. Birling uses a more formal language like “respectable” to show that he is in a
higher-class and Shelia uses slang. One of the expressions she tells her brother is “You’re squiffy” to tell Eric that he is drunk, by using these expressions of slang emphasises her youth. The language that Mr. Birling uses emphasises how pompous he is about himself. He feels that what he has to say is more important than what the other person has to say. An example is when he interrupts Eric, “…just let me finish, Eric,” he doesn’t stop even if Eric had something important to say.
If I were directing a key scene from the “Inspector Calls” play I would keep most of the objects that are instructed inside the book by J.B. Priestly but add or change some of them. I will keep the stage the same because it symbolises how the family is, “The dining-room of a fairly large suburban house,” “good solid furniture” this shows that they are or they think they are a high-class family. I will add a piano because even if the family can’t play the piano it shows that the family are posh. A long dining table because the longer the table it will show that the Birlings have many visitors, it will make them very important and probably famous. I will add a grandfather clock to show that they are a high-class family. I wouldn’t add any paintings or portraits of the family because they are not closed together and not communicate normally. This is when Mrs. Birling said “young man” to her own son.
Mr. Birling’s appearance would be an old person and a bit overweight so it makes him look big because he feels people should be looking up to him. He should be dressed smart in a suit to show a good example to his son and smoke cigars making him look rich. I would make him to be shown pompous, stuck-up and generally self-centred.
Eric should be dressed in a suit with his shirt not tucked in and his hair messed up, this emphasises his youth and his drinking problem. He should be a young person and a little bit immature.
Gerald Croft needs to be portrayed as a young Mr. Birling. He is well on the way to becoming someone like Mr. Birling. Being the son of Lord Croft makes him seem more of a worthy son-in-law to Mr. Birling.
Each character should be dressed differently because each character has their own characteristics and makes the audience know a bit of their characteristic.
The role of Mr. Birling is that he should sit in the middle of the table to give him a ‘head of the family’ appearance. Eric and Gerald should sit beside of him. When Gerald says that Eric’s been up to something he should be nodding his head to Mr. Birling while Eric who is feeling uneasy will be sweating, undoing his top button of his shirt and while he’s holding his drink his hands should be shaking, the audience will know this when Eric starts spilling his drink. Mr. Birling asks himself why there is an inspector. The Inspector enters the stage; Mr. Birling knows he is new because he hasn’t seen him before. Birling has a smile on his face because he knows that whatever he has done he will get away with it by thinking of bribing him to drop the investigation. When Birling, Eric and Gerald find out that it was Eva Smith that committed suicide they should be glancing at each other so the audience knows that it was one them.
Mr. Birling says long speeches, most of them about him unless he is being interrupted, this tells me about him that he is very pompous and self-satisfied about himself. He asks many questions, “An inspector, what kind of inspector?” this shows that he wants to get answers desperately. Eric says, “…you‘ve piled it on a bit tonight, Father.” This shows that Eric is frustrated about his father’s speeches, this tells me that Eric doesn’t care about his speeches and shows that they are not closed together like father like son. When Eric replies, “Well, I don’t think is very funny.” This demonstrates that he is serious and doesn’t like to be make fun of. Also Mr. Birling speech has many dashes, “I was an alderman for years- and Lord Mayor two years ago- and I’m still on the Bench- so I know the Brumley police officers pretty well- and I…” this tells me that he is not straight forward when he speaks.
When the inspector says the name of the woman that died “…her original name- her real name- was Eva Smith.” The inspector should take his time when saying this line during the pauses so it creates more tension to the audience to make them sit at the end of their seats so they will find who was the woman that died.
The Birling family should have an English accent because it makes them look classy, elegant and stylish. When Birling tells Eric and Gerald, “…I don’t want to lecture you two young fellows again.” I would want to make Birling shaking his head while saying this because he doesn’t want to be saying the same thing over and over again. In order to raise the tension and the suspense in the play, entrances and exits are well timed, such as when the inspector enters just after Birling makes his speech about looking after yourself and not being responsible for others. Then "The inspector enters, and Edna goes, closing door after her. The inspector need not be a big an but creates at once and impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness." Which is a stage direction. This ensures that the inspector is noticed. The inspector should have a deep voice so it will make that he is in charge. When Eric hears how the woman died and says, “My God!” I would make him drop his drink so it makes the audience know that Eric had to do something with death.
While the Birlings and Gerald are celebrating the engagement I will make the light to have bright colours because they are celebrating and its meant to be a happy moment. When the inspector comes into the scene the light should be dark and his face cannot be seen. This makes the audience think that why is there an inspector and know that something has happen. Mr Birling’s character could also benefit from being in the shade a little, to make his character seem a little darker. This would make the audience understand that he isn’t a very nice person. I will make it that it is raining and a dark atmosphere as a sound effect so it represents that something evil happened. The music I will put will be slow, very dramatic and soft (so the audience can hear each character) to give an atmosphere of mystery.
J.B. Priestly lived through the 1900’s. During that time the First World War had broken out, the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic sunk, the Suffragette campaign for women's rights, coal miners and others on strike for better pay and conditions, and no help from the state for poor and expectancy was about 46 years.
People were expected to know their place in society and stick to it and those in power frowned upon moving from one section of the class system to another. Workers were beginning to let it be known that they wanted to have a say in what happened to them and did so through strikes and the formation of trade unions to co-ordinate these actions. This was a strange idea to those who owned the factories and workplaces, who expected to have complete control over all aspects of their workers lives. The bosses wanted things to stay as they always had been, with them in control of the labour, jobs, conditions and pay. The bosses, being of a higher class than the workers, believed that they knew best and should make decisions for the masses. These were mainly based on how much profit they could make and they rarely considered the welfare of the workers.
In the play itself the main family, the 'Birlings' are wealthy middle class landowners and proprietors of a large factory that was built up by the father of Mr. Birling. He has hopes of gaining a Knighthood, due to his service as a magistrate and as ex-Lord Mayor, which he sees as his way to climb the social ladder to the lower rungs of the aristocracy.
I think the moral of this play is that ‘us’ people in a society should be looking out for each other and to treat people as would you like to be treated. During Priestly’s life people only seemed to look after themselves, their time and attention was not spent on the community, but on themselves. Also women had less rights than men and they were treated differently, higher-class women were not allowed to work, only stay at home. I believe that Priestly used each of the characters to portray a different part of society and he personified their actions to the death of Eva Smith.