'An Inspector Calls' - Dear Kate Winslet, enclosed I have the information on the character you are playing.

‘An Inspector Calls’ Coursework

Dear Kate Winslet, enclosed I have the information on the character you are playing. Firstly Kate, the play has been set in 1912 a couple of years before the First World War. I’ve considered at length how to summarise the plot but the best description is that from the book itself.

“Arthur Birling, a prosperous manufacturer in the early years of the 20th century, is holding a family dinner party to celebrate his daughter’s engagement. Into the cosy scene intruded the harsh figure of a police inspector investigating the suicide of a young woman.”

The play is set in a town called Brumby. The family who he is investigating is called the Birling family and because they’re under a lot of pressure they all confess to a shameful secret, which links them with the suicide. J.B Priestley’s message to the audience is that everyone in society is responsible for each other and that we should consider how the actions of certain people could affect others.

The character that you are playing is called Shelia Birling. Shelia is the daughter of Arthur Birling and Mrs Birling.

She is engaged to Gerald who is in his early twenties like Shelia. At the start of the play your character is very happy with life as she is to be married in the near future and her family is quite rich. At this time in the play Shelia’s personality is much the same, happy and cheerful. I think you should go about playing her with the same mentality. At one stage Sheila described Eric as “squiffy”. This gives the audience the impression that Shelia is not as polite as her family would like. You can see this when her mother says “Really the things you girls pick up these days!” To an Edwardian society this term “squiffy” would be slang in 1912 and would not be considered language a young woman should say.

When the inspector first calls, tells members of the family that a suicide had taken place. So when Shelia hears of the news she immediately found it very “horrible” and asked if it “was an accident”. I would expect you Kate to deliver your key lines in this scene with a lot of enthusiasm. This could be accomplished perhaps with a large gasp of horror when told the bad news. If this were done the audience would see a new side to Shelia. They would see that Shelia is also a very caring, compassionate and concerned person. This can also ...

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Kate, another thing that you have to remember is that Shelia’s pleasant life style is about to be ruined. When all the turmoil is about to start you would have to now act more serious. This would show the audience that Shelia is a very involving person.

In act two of the play Shelia has found out about the involvement of Gerald with Eva Smith as well as her own. She has broken off her engagement and is seeking answers about Eva’s death. To make things worse for your character her mother, Mrs Birling has discovered her part in the suicide death. Eva had applied for help at her charity. Eva at the time was pregnant and was probably turned down because she used the name Mrs Birling. Mrs Birling found that rude somehow so she persuaded the committee to not help Eva.

Shelia had her reasons for breaking off her engagement to Gerald. During the summer he had an affair with Eva who he met at a bar frequented by prostitutes. He told Shelia he had been busy with work. Shelia, even before the Inspector called had suspicions about Gerald. Gerald knew the inspector would mention his affair at the beginning of act two so Gerald tells Shelia, “why stay when you’ll hate it”. He also says “its bound to be unpleasant” Shelia decided to be stubborn and stay and that how she found out about the affair. This Kate is the scene where Shelia is most vulnerable. You should try to incorporate this vulnerability into your acting of her. The audience would feel sympathetic towards Shelia. They must realise that she is very distraught so to help the audience you could exaggerate all your expressions and body language.

Shelia in a way felt sorry for Eric. At first Mrs Birling tells the inspector “I blame the young man who was the father of the child she was going to have.” Shelia had the intelligence to know Eric was the father not Mr Birling so she begged Mrs Birling to stop answering the inspector’s questions. The audience later finds out that Eric stole money from Mr Birling to give to Eva. The audience would express sympathy with Eric because at least is trying to provide for Eva. Gerald who had previously gone for a walk had started talking to a police officer. This police officer swore he had never heard of an Inspector Goole. This then lead Gerald and Mr and Mrs Birling to believe they had got away with the allegations against them. Shelia and Eric are the only people that understand, even though the inspector wasn’t real, they still had committed terrible deeds. Shelia because of all the anguish she has endured became hysterical. I would expect you now to answer questions put forward more assertive and dramatic. For example when Eric was talking about how the Mr Goole inspected them she butts in saying “he inspected us alright.” This type of spontaneous question answering would be quite confusing for the audience to understand. You could simplify the matter by answering more questions in the same tone of voice. This would enhance Shelia’s hysteria even more.

After your great performance in the production of Titanic I feel you could deliver your keys lines with ease. This was seen in the intense scene moments of Titanic. As you already know the two plays were set in the same Edwardian era. The clothing we are using in the Inspector Calls Play is the same as the clothing you would have seen the high social members of the Titanic wearing. The vocabulary would be very similar to so you should find it easy.

I hope to see you at rehearsals shortly, but until then take care.

Yours truly,

Sean Toomey