I think Priestly gives such a detailed description of the stage set because, he wants to accurately reflect a specific period in time, and also as the setting doesn’t change through out the play its best to get it right the first time.
In the opening of the play priestly includes specific props to give a sense of social class in the Birlings. At the very begging Edna is clearing the table of “dessert plates and champagne glasses, replacing them with a decanter of port, cigar boxes and cigarettes.” These objects are all expensive things, things you would expect to find at a special occasion. Therefore, not only does it show the Birlings upper class, it also shows that there is a special occasion.
The characters costumes are roughly described to match the correct period of time. Men more-so, partly because they would all have been the same, and partly because this would be a strict dress code for a special occasion in those days. This would tell the audience immediately what period the play was set in.
At the begging of the play the lighting is a soft pink, this is to show how relaxed the Birlings were and that everything was ok. Like the expression “looking back through rose coloured spectacles.” Then as the inspector arrives there is a dramatic change of lighting to a hard, brighter light to show the inspector’s sternness.
At the beginning of the play the characters are each described briefly of their characteristics and emotions. These descriptions shall change through the play for at the beginning they are clearly happy in celebration and through out the rest of the play become more “worried, upset, or argumentative”. The inspector is described as “An impression of ‘massiveness, solidity and purposefulness’, he grows and remains more solid when each of the other characters break down.” This is because Priestly wants to put across that the inspector (a socialist) is superior to the Birlings. The Inspector goes about his investigation in chronological order to the happenings of “Eva Smith”, slowly breaking down each character letting them foresee their mistakes.
Birling’s speeches are really important as Priestly uses dramatic irony to put across his ideas about social status. In his speeches Birling sounds arrogant and pompous, thinking he knows it all when dramatic irony shows how wrong he is. “Titanic-she sails next week-forty six thousand eight hundred tons-New York in five days-and every luxury-and unsinkable.” The audience all know the Titanic was infact not “unsinkable” and that it sank a week later, making Birling sound overly confident, bordering on pompous in his vision of the future. He is thus creating in Birling an untrustworthy character-if he is wrong about this he might also be wrong in other things he says. Birling is portrayed as a typical business man, an individualist, and a capitalist and his attitudes reflect that. For example he makes a speech to his son and future son in law which is interrupted by the inspector. He repeats the idea that “a man has to make his own way, has to look after himself” which seems to embody his individualistic philosophy. It seems that Priestly uses speeches as an important device to highlight the opposing views in the play. The inspector’s final speech would almost parody this earlier speech in that he proposes the exact opposite view “We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other” Priestly uses the character of the inspector as a mouth-piece to say his socialist views.
‘An inspector calls’ is very much a play to put across Priestly’s veiws about things he believed in, e.g socialism. An enjoyable mystery performance for people who like a twist.
