An Inspector Calls | Venue Cymru

An Inspector Calls, which was written by J.B. Priestley back in 1945 and is directed by Stephen Daldry, is a timeless classic that captures audiences through striking visuals and a compelling story.

Set in 1912, the story follows an unexpected visit from the mysterious Inspector Goole at The Birling Family household in the fictional town of Brumley in England. The Inspector disrupts the engagement party of Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft, causing outrage amongst the family, but Inspector Goole reveals that a young woman has committed suicide and someone at the party is to blame. Inspector Goole interrogates each of the individuals involved, causing a tangled web of lies to be revealed. Priestley's writing is a delicious slow burn and each plot twist grabs the audience's attention further, with Daldry's direction lending a helping hand in maintaining the intrigue and suspense.

From the offset, as a young boy runs through the audience onto the stage and lifts the curtains for the play to begin, one can't help but feeling completely immersed into the story. Whilst some directional choices feel somewhat confusing, these choices feel intentional and only enhance the intrigue of the story. This is metatheatre at its finest, shining a spotlight on morals and how our very own individual morals have their impact.

Leona Allen as Sheila gives an incredibly sincere performance, perfectly capturing the emotional resonance of an individual coming to terms with the consequences of their actions. George Rowlands gives a troubled performance as Eric Birling, whose out of control drinking leads to a spiral in mental health. Jackie Morrison's portrayal of Mrs Birling brings depth to the story, with a silently sinister character who detaches from her wrong-doing, demonstrating a complete moral blindness.

Ian Macneil's stage design is visually stunning with an Edwardian style dollhouse sitting up high, perfectly portraying the gap between social classes and the arrogance towards the broader society. As the story unfolds, the way in which the house transforms demonstrates an incredible metaphor for the fragility and breakdown in the family dynamics. Sebastian Frost's sound design and Rick Fisher's lighting design both effectively create an uneasy atmosphere and build suspense, keeping audience's second guessing on the trajectory of the plot.

The only criticism that can be made is that the lack of microphones meant that it was difficult to follow the conversations amongst the characters initially. Especially with such a big theatre as Venue Cymru, this did take a short while to adapt to and there sometimes felt like clearer diction or projection could have minimised this issue.

An Inspector Calls, whilst written back in 1945, transcends time, and one can't help but notice about how the overall theme of exploring moral and social issues such as collective responsibility and social justice remain as relevant as ever, rendering this show as a relevant and thought-provoking play.

An Inspector Calls runs at Venue Cymru until Saturday 17th May 2025.

Tickets and More Information

★★★★☆ (4*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review