Nur-Aimi Elias
An Inspector Calls: A Theatre Review
In Stephen Daldry’s production of ‘An Inspector Calls’, before the curtain even rises the audience has the sounds of air raid sirens thrown at them. This is not only alarming being a symbol of war which in itself is a terrifying ordeal, but it also gives an early insight into what to expect in the play, or rather, what not to expect; security, certainty, predictability and a happy ending, all of which war it itself lacks.
Ian McNeil’s scenery includes a large Edwardian doll’s house, perched and stilted in the cobbled streets of post-Blitz Britain. The visual centrepiece that is the house balanced on its post in all its disfigurement, seems to resemble the barrier between its inhabitants and society; the front of the house swinging open when vulnerable, it falling down when broken and it rising again when rebuilt. The house is also grotesquely small, whereas the family seem extremely big – to metaphor their overblown egos. The house being raised on stilts shows how the Birlings feel the mute people in the street are socially beneath them. These voiceless people represent the lower class community whose views do not count in a world where matters are controlled by those with voice, i.e. the Birlings. Later in the play however, a glaring light spotlights this vast community, highlighting their real importance.