Write a letter from the director to the actor playing a character you have studied, in which you advise him/her about the role he/she will be playing and it(TM)s importance to the play.

Write a letter from the director to the actor playing a character you have studied, in which you advise him/her about the role he/she will be playing and it’s importance to the play.

Congratulations for your excellent audition for the role of the inspector in the production ‘An inspector calls’. You have been chosen to play this role because out of all the actors we auditioned, your performance showed certain qualities needed to play the part of the inspector. For example the inspector must have a strong and domineering character to show that he is in control of the others throughout the section of the play where he is at the house. The inspector must also come across as quite eerie and ghostlike at times.

J.B.priestly was born 13 September 1894, Bradford, West riding of Yorkshire and he died August 14th 1984 aged 89. He wrote many books and also had his only radio broadcast during the war. He wanted this particular production to be set in 1912, this is because it fits in with certain things that are mentioned in the play, for instance at the beginning when Birling is delivering his speech displaying his narrow-minded opinion of the war, Titanic and other political views. If a modern version of the play was to be performed, then he wouldn’t be able to do this and therefore we wouldn’t have that particular information on Birling which really shows his character and how he is a capitalist and believes that he should look out for himself and his family and considers as and okay thing to do to pay his workers as little as possible because they can’t walk out or argue with him as they have nowhere else to work. This is important in the play, because ‘The Inspector’ is the person that tries to make Birling change and possibly become more socialist and realise that there are other people in the world and I think that the way that the Inspector arrives immediately after he has delivered this speech to the rest of the Birling family, that the ‘Eva/Daisy’ story could possibly have just been a story until he refused to change his ways. I think that the point of the play was that the Inspector had come to the Birling’s house to try to change them and make them better people, and they were told about Eva/Daisy and then they were given the option to change. I think that if Birling and Mrs Birling and Gerald had also realised that they needed to change (like Sheila and Eric) then they wouldn’t have received the second phone call.

Capitalism is a social and economic system which means that a person believes in class and social groups and believes that they should be distinguished from one another, and believes that if you want to make yourself richer then you can, also these people will not want to negotiate themselves with people poorer or people from a lower-class background than themselves. The characters in the play that have been chosen to represent this are Mr & Mrs Birling and Gerald.

However, Socialism generally means that people believe that we should live in a society where there is no capitalism and no upper, middle and lower class, but where everyone is equal and no one can judge. The characters in the play which have been chosen to represent this are Shelia, Eric and the Inspector. I think Priestly is a socialist and believes that capitalism is wrong because after reading or watching the play you could perhaps get the impression that The Inspector is there to represent Priestley’s opinion.

From the moment the Inspector arrives at the Birling’ house, his character is dominant and demanding, for example he wants answers from the Birling’s and makes it clear that he will not go until he gets them. You can see from the beginning that he suggests an air of mystery when he arrives unexpectedly as the Birling family are sitting in their home having a meal. Their house would not be cosy as there is not much warmth within the family, but there should be some change within the light and atmosphere of the room when the inspector arrives. For ...

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Throughout the many variations of the production of ‘An Inspector calls’ there have been a few queries as to whether or not the Inspector is a ghost. A clue in the play to back this up would be when the Inspector arrives and distinguishes clearly between the spelling of his name compared to the spelling of ‘Ghoul’, he does this by saying ‘Inspector Goole. G-O-O-L-E’ this is a clear hint that he doesn’t want the Birling family suspecting anything about him yet and so he makes it clear how his name is spelt. However J.B.Priestly could have deliberately done this to make the audience wonder whether or not he is a ghost and if he possibly has been sent here to make them change their ways and realise that they are not just responsible for their own lives, and how their everyday actions and things that they do without realising can lead up to something horrific. Throughout the time that the Inspector is at the house he uses constant reminders of ‘Eva’s’ death to almost ‘force’ them to answer his questions, and as Shelia notices during the play there is something about him which just ‘makes’ you own up to what he is asking, like they have no choice, perhaps he is trying to make them realise how Eva felt when she died, show that she was that desperate, she had no-one to help her and therefore she felt she had no choice but to do what she did. Sheila proves that she is feeling this when she says ‘he knows, of course he knows, and I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t yet’.

From the moment Shelia first speaks to the inspector she starts to change and Eric does too. Shelia seems to notice something about the Inspector that makes her realise her errors and her input in the girls suicide, she realises this when she says ‘We all started like that – So confident, so pleased with ourselves until he began asking questions’ This clearly shows that she is trying to tell the others that there is no point trying to defend themselves against his accusations because no matter how confident they act towards him at first, that will all change as soon as he starts asking questions. She also shows that he is weary of the Inspector when she say to Gerald ‘…and I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t yet’ I think that when she said this, It proved that she also felt that something wasn’t right about the Inspector and that she realises hat he possibly isn’t who he says he is and maybe she realises that he hasn’t just come to ask them questions about her death, that there is something more in it and there is possibly another reason for the Inspector’s arrival.

This is also proven when the Inspector each shows them the picture of Eva Smith(Daisy), he shows them each at different times, never allowing more than on person to view the picture at a time and this shows how precise and accurate his character is. Also the way the Inspector goes about asking them so calm and patient yet demanding and forceful at the same time has a huge impact on Sheila and Eric, perhaps he even has a slight impact on Mr & Mrs Birling and Gerald. This is proved towards the end when Gerald returns after leaving the Birling family to go for a walk and he tells them about his suspicions regarding the Inspector, he says ‘there is no Inspector Goole’. He comes back to tell them that the Inspector was not a genuine Inspector and that he knew something was suspicious about him all along, to which the Birling’s all agree that they also felt that something about him was not right. The query of the Inspector being some kind of ghost/ghoul is proven at the end of act three, when Mr Birling receives the phone call telling them that a girl has just died in the infirmary after swallowing some disinfectant and a police Inspector is coming round for them to answer some questions. The use of props in the house during the play is also meant to give us a hint about this. For instance the clock is supposed to show that the time has stopped while the Inspector is there because he wants them to realise and to change, however when only Shelia and Eric show any signs of change the time starts again and after the phone-call a real police Inspector will arrive to ask them questions.

The Inspectors impact on each family member is different. Whereas he manages to make Shelia and Eric realise their mistake and try to put things right, Mr & Mrs Birling and Gerald are not so easily changed by the Inspector. Mrs Birling shows this in her manner of speech towards the Inspector, she shows that she is not weary of the Inspector and tries to prove that she will not change ‘(To Inspector, rather grandly)’ that stage direction of how the speech should be delivered by Mrs Birling proves that she does not feel threatened by the Inspector. Mrs Birling also shows this when she is telling the Inspector about when Eva smith turned up at her work and called herself Mrs Birling ‘A piece of gross impertinence – quite deliberate – and naturally that was one of the things that persuaded me against her case.’ This is showing again that Mrs Birling is a capitalist and that she believes that Eva Smith was looking for trouble when she came to Mr Birling to ask her for help. She shows this because she is basically saying that because she was of a lower-class than herself, and she changed her story, that she then couldn’t be bothered to help her. She also shows that she is capitalist when she says that by Eva’ using her name to cover her own identity she thought that this was done deliberately done to be rude to her. This is again showing that she believes that she doesn’t have any responsibility for anyone but herself and her close family.

The play is part morality play because it has a morale and a meaning to be learnt form the story, for example the message in this play is taking responsibility for your actions, and the example in the play is set By Shelia and Eric, who realise their mistakes and try to change. The detective story is where a crime is committed by one or a group of people, in this case it being The Birling’s and Gerald and all of the secrets that are uncovered and revealed by the Inspector. The Naturalistic drama is where playwright attempts to give a detailed impression of real life and this play does try to do this which means that it is party a naturalistic drama. J.B.Preistly also chose to have three acts in this production which would all end on cliff-hangers. The first act being that they had just found out that Gerald had had some involvement with the girl and the second where they had just discovered about Eric’s involvement with the girl and the third where the phone-call has just happened. Priestly may have wanted this to happen as he wanted people to be gripped by the story at the end of each act. This also could have had something to do with it being a detective story and a major part of the mystery is revealed at the end of each act and then solved or discussed in the following act.

At the beginning and end of the production there will be screens with a slideshow of pictures presenting poverty and other things that are relevant to the play such as how people all over the world are desperate for people to help them and to start realising that we do have responsibility for other people and not just ourselves, and then just before the play begins there will be a clip of Eva Smith drinking the disinfectant, this is to show the audience that something has happened. The play is relevant to modern day because it has a certain morale to teach the audience about the responsibility that we have towards other people who are in out society and those living amongst us that are less fortunate than ourselves

The house will open like a dolls’ house, but will remain closed before the inspector arrival, this is to show that he is making them open up and reveal all of their secrets that they have kept hidden away. When the inspector leaves, Mr and Mrs Birling and Gerald will go back into the main part of the house where the room is darker and full of shadows that represent sin and secrets, however, Sheila and Eric will remain at the open part of the house where the light is brighter, this is to show that they are not trying to hide away anymore and that they have changed. There will also be a mirror in the part of the room with Sheila and Eric and in the part of the house with the others there will be the fire that is not lit, to show that there is not warmth and soul there.

The lighting will be a light pink glow before the inspector arrives, however after his arrival the light will become brighter and stronger so people (the audience) can feel that they are opening up and revealing secrets. When the inspector confronts each person in turn, the light will change colour/ shade depending on the character and revelation. For example Eric could have quite a heavy colour as he is carrying a huge load of guilt, but this could change and become lighter and softer as he changes. Whereas Mr and Mrs Birling will start with a fairly heavy colour and continue like that throughout the production.

In the scene where the inspector arrives, he introduces himself as inspector Goole and then he cuts straight to the point by telling them that Eva Smith has died after committing suicide and then he askd Mr Birling whether or not he knew the girl. However he is very demanding in the way he says this. ‘I’d like some information if you don’t mind Mr Birling. Two hours ago a young woman died in the Infirmary. She’d been taken there this afternoon because she’d swallowed a lot of strong disinfectant. Burnt her insides out of course.’ He says this as thought Mr Birling should also know about it, and I think he makes it clear from the start that he is accusing Mr Birling of having some responsibility for her death. The Inspector could show this perhaps by continuously glancing at the Inspector throughout the time that he is telling Mr Birling about her death, indicating responsibility.

Rehearsals start in one weeks time and I advise you to read the play carefully, particularly taking notice of the Inspectors lines and the scenes and lines of speech which I have identified. You should also try to develop your version of the character of the Inspector by continuously reading the Inspector’s lines and looking deeper into his character and thinking about how he is demanding and perhaps forceful in his approach towards the Birling family and try to make sure that you fully understand the reasons for the Inspectors appearance and the fact that he arrived at the moment when Mr Birling had just finished his speech, and you also need to make sure that your character does create some confusion on his arrival and throughout the play until the end of the play when his true identity and purpose is left for the audience to decide on fully.