In the act the actress who plays Sheila is told to act as though the audience are her friends and that they really like her, so she starts to come across as slightly confident and feels at ease talking to them. However when Sheila starts telling the truth and the account of what really happened the audience’s opinion of her starts to change, they act as if they now hate her and the way Stephen Duldry has chosen to present Sheila here is have her come across as trying to defend herself from what people think of her. Sheila now starts to feel insecure.
During Sheila’s speech she comes across as spoilt Stephen Daldry has chosen to have Sheila come across like this, as it refers to and shows her background, and how she has been brought up. When Sheila is telling her account of what happened to inspector Goole, only half of her face is in the light this represents that as Sheila tells the truth she starts to move from darkness to light. The darkness being lies and deceit, and the light would be purity and the truth.
In act one Sheila is wearing a white dress, her hair is up and she is also wearing matching white gloves. Stephen Daldry has chosen the colour white because, it is symbolic it represents innocence and purity. In act one we also see Sheila playing with her hands when she is talking this shows her character as being nervous and uncomfortable.
During act two Sheila starts to change, her gloves have been removed this shows that Sheila is now willing to accept the past and move on. Sheila is now more open with the inspector, and also believes that the family should stop hiding behind lies. A theme that runs throughout this play would be pride and status; the Burling’s seem to believe that the money they have and their status will save them from the truth. When Sheila now talks to her parents her tone has changed. Her parents burst out into hysterical laughter, Sheila is now more assertive she speaks her mind, when her family tell her its best if she leaves the room Sheila says “ I’m staying here until I know why that girl killed herself” because Sheila has come to terms with what has happened, and has told the truth of what really happened when she was in Millwards she is now inquisitive, to what else happened to Eva Smith.
Once the truth is revealed the house on stage opens up I agree with the way Stephen Daldry has chosen to present this on stage and I think it works extremely well. Sheila also tries to convince her family to come clan and tell the truth she believes if the family keep hiding from it there digging there selves deeper Sheila says “no he’s giving us the rope so that we hang ourselves”. After the truth has come out Sheila is very reflective and has leant her lesson from the inspector Goole’s visit.
After the inspectors visit in act three Sheila’s dress has been removed and she is left in her under dress her gloves have also gone. This works well because the gloves represented that Sheila was hiding something when the gloves are removed Sheila is no longer lying and is telling the truth.
Sheila at times almost seems to be an accomplice of the inspector; she tends to take on board what the inspector is saying unlike other members of her family. Sheila also takes on board the Inspector Goole’s criticisms of other members of the burling family. From looking at Sheila we can tell that she will learn from the experience of the Inspector Goole.
In my opinion I think that the way Stephen Daldry chose to present his interpretation of inspector calls, worked well I especially liked his idea of when the truth was coming out the house opened up I thought this looked good. I also liked the idea of the “gloves” and how they represented Sheila lying I think that simple ideas like this really work well and help the piece to flow.
Sheila is a pretty girl in her early twenties; she can be sarcastic at times and also quiet and serious. When the inspector first comes Sheila is distressed, she comes across as though she’s trying to hide something. During the visit of the inspector Goole she starts telling what really happened. Sheila is a strong-minded yet doesn’t show it all the time.
I think Sheila could teach people about how important it is to stand up for yourself.
By Michelle Joseph 11YA
