Below the house are a few young children dressed in ragged clothing, looking like poor people of a low class, living on the streets. This shows the audience that although the lower-class lived parallel to the upper-class, they lived completely different lives. This suggests that the society may be capitalist. It suggests this because capitalism is known to cause extremes; the poor being extremely poor, and the rich being extremely rich. As the play progresses this becomes more apparent through the Eva Smith being exploited because of her social class, and through the actions of richer people.
The next stage of the play is when the whole of the front of the house is opened. I think this was done because it is symbolic of the Birling’s household, and lives being revealed. By opening the house it also exposes all the things the Birling’s have done wrong. E.g. how Eva Smith was exploited by people in higher positions that her. I also think that the opening of the house may symbolise how Sheila came to the realisation that she had done things wrong, and how she contributed towards Eva’s death. This shows the audience how her mind was opened, much like then house.
The next stage of the play is when the house collapses. I think this is to symbolise the fall of the Birling family (if what the inspector is saying is true) there would be a public enquiry. A public enquiry is mentioned jokingly at the start of the play by Mr Birling (when he is talking to Gerald). And then, later on in the play, Mr. Birling is actually faced with one (this is an example of dramatic irony, which is used regularly during the play to convey the fact that the Birling’s opinions are incorrect. E.g. when Birling says there is no possibility of war). Another reason why the house collapses is to represent how (mainly Mr. Birling) just cares about how he is seen by people, an example of this is when he realises how the story of Eva will get out. All he worries about is how this may jeopardise his chances of getting a knighthood.
The final stage of the play is the restoration of the house. I think this is used to show how, when the inspector leaves, Mr. Birling, Mrs. Birling and Gerald Croft all joke about the inspectors coming, and how they think they’ve been hoaxed. Totally not understanding the principles the inspector tries to make them aware of. The fact that the house was restored may also symbolise the restoration of Mr. Birling’s and Gerald’s opinions, of how the rich should live individually from the lower-class.
The two events, the house collapsing, and the restoration of the house may symbolise key events in modern history. The collapsing of the house may represent literally the collapsing of buildings in world war two, but also the collapse of capitalism. The collapse may have been because all people lower or upper-class had to work together during the war. The restoration of the house, then may represent the restoration of society (after the war) but instead of capitalist, socialist. However, Priestly then suggests, though the inspectors final speech that society is still partly capitalist, he does this by saying “if men will not learn, then they will be taught in fire, and blood and anguish.” I also think Priestly is trying to hint that there may be a revolution.
In conclusion I would say that stagecraft, in the Daldry version of ‘An Inspector Calls’ plays an important role in the understanding of divisions of society in Britain.
