When Mrs Birling exclaims ‘Don’t be childish Sheila.’ on page 59, she should direct it at Sheila, but glance at her husband to show that they share the same opinion and that they both think that their daughters’ last comment was absurd. Sheila’s reply should be said in a defensive manner and her fathers reaction is to tell her to leave the room if she talks like that. This shows that Birling thinks he is the most powerful figure in the room. At the beginning of the play, the other characters would have agreed, but now his children have lost all respect for him. As director I would portray this by Eric saying his line in a sarcastic tone ‘That’ll be terrible for her, won’t it?’ and Sheila would say her line in a dismissive way.
Sheila goes on to say that it does not matter who made each of them confess and then states what everyone did. When she talks about each character, the lights shine on them and they make a small gesture. Birling will sigh in an uninterested way because he does not think that he has done anything wrong. In act 1, Birling says ‘Still, I can’t accept any responsibility.’ Sheila should pause before she says what she did to the girl and then say it in an ashamed tone because she feels terrible for inflicting pain onto someone else’s life. On page 23 she says how ‘rotten’ she is feeling.
Eric is next and as Sheila mentions his name, he should reach for a wine glass but then put it back on the table so that the audience can see that he realises that alcohol is not the answer to his problems. The last character is Mrs Birling and she should just stare coldly at her daughter. On page 47 she clearly states that she will not accept any blame for the girls death.
At the beginning of page 60 Sheila should speak slowly and thoughtfully when she says the line ‘we hardly ever told him anything he didn’t know.’ This is an important message for the audience because it adds extra mystery about Inspector Goole. Birling next dismissively says ‘that’s nothing…’ he then goes on to blame his family for telling the inspector so much. At this point he should go to the little table in the front corner of the stage which has a bottle of whiskey on it. While Sheila and Mrs Birling talk, Birling will pour himself a drink. His next line is ‘The fact is, you allowed yourself to be bluffed.’ After saying ‘the fact is,’ he will take a sip of his drink before finishing the rest of his sentence. This will demonstrate that he is a little bit stressed. He then walks back to his seat. At the bottom of the page, Mrs Birling calls Eric and Sheila ‘children’ which now makes them feel patronised because they are behaving more maturely than their parents, which they can demonstrate by scowling.
When the bell rings everyone should look at each other in alarm. Mrs Birling says that Edna will get the door, a door slams off stage before Gerald enters. Sheila looks uncomfortable and fidgets. No one stands up to greet him and he takes off his own hat and gloves’ showing that he is part of the family. When Gerald says ‘I hope you don’t mind me coming back’ he looks at Sheila because after Gerald’s confession, page 40, Sheila handed back her engagement ring. Mrs Birling interrupts their gaze by sweetly saying ‘No, of course not Gerald.’
Birling stops his daughter when she starts to tell Gerald what happened after he left. He does not want Gerald to get a bad impression of his family because he wants their two family businesses to merge together. ‘…perhaps we may look forward to the time when Croft’s Limited and Birling and Company are no longer competing, but working together…’ page 4.
Gerald asks how the Inspector behaved and Mrs Birling tells him how rude he was to herself and her husband. However, she does not mention that he is rude to her children and the Inspector spoke to them in the same manner. She obviously expects to be treated with greater respect because she is older. Therefore she has not learned anything about equality and has not listened to a thing the Inspector said.
Gerald then looks smug and says ‘Hm –hm!’ Everybody looks inquisitively at him. Birling makes his next comment ‘You know something, what is it?’ with anticipation in his voice and he stands up.
The lights are focused on Gerald while he tells everyone how he knows that the Inspector is a fraud but then the lights go back to the table. Birling then yells ‘by Jingo! A fake!’ Mrs Birling looks ecstatic but Sheila and Eric look more astounded then glad.
Birling decided to ring up the Chief Constable to make certain of it. He walks over to the desk which has a telephone on it, to confirm his findings and Gerald follows. This would signify that Gerald feels important in the family. Mrs Birling turns around to watch them but Sheila and Eric’s eyes stay fixed on the table to show that it does not matter to them if the Inspector was a fake or not. Birling talks to the Constable and then hangs up. He turns around towards his family members and states with great triumph ‘ That man definitely wasn’t a Police Inspector at all. As Gerald says (he pats Gerald’s shoulder) we’ve been had.’
Birling, Mrs Birling and Gerald all make some sort of comment which show that they have forgotten about all that they have done and just care that the whole affair will not become public. Mr Birling says ‘In fact it makes all the difference.’ Page 63.
Sheila looks at these three characters in disgust, before sarcastically saying ‘ I suppose we’re all nice people now.’
Eric backs his sister up which makes their father angry because Eric was the one who actually went against the law. Birling almost says aloud what Eric did, but then his wife interrupts so as not to let Gerald know. In a way Mr and Mrs Birling and Gerald are each trying to get the approval of the other one because later on Gerald tells Sheila in front of her parents that he does not want to know the rest of their ‘crimes’. This also suggests that Gerald, as a typical member of the upper class has no desire to be in touch with reality.
As Mrs Birling proudly tells everybody that she was the only one who didn’t give in, Eric gets up and starts to pace behind the table.
His father tells him to sit down with annoyance in his voice and Eric sharply replies ‘ I’m alright.’ He walks over to where Sheila is sitting and stands behind her. Meanwhile Gerald is sitting at the table in the middle and by the time Birling says ‘Now look you two…’ he is standing behind his wife’s chair. This shows the different opinions which are in the play. The younger generation are on one side of the table and the older generation on the other. Gerald sits in the middle to imply that although he most probably agrees with Birling, on page 63, Gerald says ‘Of course!’ when Mr Birling rejoices that the Inspector was not real. He also does not want to get on the wrong side of Sheila twice in one night.
By page 64 you can see that Eric has changed because he stands up to his father during a speech which Sheila agrees with. Then Birling shouts ‘Look- for God’s sake!’ His wife ironically says ‘Arthur!’ as though that is the only thing he has done wrong. Birling then explains that his children do not understand that it could have been a public scandal when Eric interrupts and shouts ‘And I say the girl’s dead and we all helped to kill her- and that’s what matters-’
Throughout the scene, Sheila appears more mature than her parents and Eric seems more confident and probably relieved that everything is out in the open. Mr and Mrs Birling are portrayed as self centred and snobbish because they never admit to being wrong although it is clear to the audience that they are. Gerald is in the middle of the family because while he is pleased that the Inspector was a fraud, he never says that what he did was right but also never admits to doing any wrong.
I think the message that Priestly was trying to put across is that our actions affect other people as well as ourselves and that with power comes responsibility which is something that all of the characters forgot. He also wanted the audience to be aware of the definite social hierarchy. I would show this by the Inspector wearing cheap and untidy clothes, when compared to the Birlings’.
As director, I would make sure there was a great sense of irony but not let it get lost in the audience. I would show an obvious generation gap and emphasise the grouping, to bring out the tension.
JESSICA MANN 10A
