ArtsEmerson's "An Inspector Calls": Dali-esque Deconstruction

The Cast of "An Inspector Calls"
(photo: Mark Douet)

ArtsEmerson's current production couldn't be more timely, what with its focus on the bottom line in business, and rampant selfishness in life. The fact that An Inspector Calls, by playwright J. B. Priestley, was written in 1945 doesn't detract from its timeless timeliness. Clocking in at just a hundred minutes, with no intermission, this work played fewer than a hundred performances in its original Broadway run in 1947, but a healthy 454 performances in 1994, earning four Tony Awards including for Best Revival of a Play and Best Director for Stephen Daldry, who repeats here in Boston with this London National Theatre version. He has spoken of the issue it deals with as society's collective responsibility without class or privilege or division. It's a cerebral head-spinner but a delightful one on literally several levels.

The Cast of "An Inspector Calls"
(photo: Mark Douet)

The play begins in the fall of 1912 as the prosperous Birling family, headed by factory owner and local politician Arthur (Jeff Harmer), as well as his wife Sybil (Christine Kavanagh), and son Eric (Hamish Riddle), all celebrate the engagement of daughter Sheila (Lianne Harvey) to Gerald Croft (Andrew Macklin), son of the owner of one of the Birling factory's competitors. After the women have left the dining room, Arthur expounds to Eric (who has a severe drinking problem) on the importance of self-reliance, and to Gerald about the future merging of the two families' factories, promising lower costs and higher profits, as well as his impending knighthood. All seems to be self-congratulatory egotism, when, unexpectedly, the doorbell rings. The maid Edna (Diana Payne-Myers) admits a man who introduces himself as Inspector Goole (Liam Brennan), who is investigating the suicide of a young working-class woman, Eva Smith. As the night unfolds, we learn that several family members knew the deceased: one recalls firing her the previous year for organizing a strike; another admits to having the woman sacked when Eva ridiculed her while she was waiting on her in a department store; two of them, when it is revealed that Eva changed her name to Daisy Renton, admit they each had an affair with her; and one other refused to aid the pregnant Eva when she begged her for help. Sheila returns her ring to Gerald. And the stage is set for a solution or several solutions, of sorts, to the mystery of exactly what did happen to the young woman.

Christine Kavanagh, Jeff Harmer & Lianne Harvey in "An Inspector Calls"
(photo: Mark Douet)

Or did it? Or will it? This Dali-esque deconstruction is all quite reminiscent of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (delivered sort of upside down) with a manse-full cast of real characters, any one of whom, or all of whom, could conceivably be guilty. It takes some patience to let the story (or, rather, stories) unfold. Professional courtesy forbids any further references to this surreal (to quote no less than Winston Churchill) riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. One clue only: note the use of an indefinite article in the title. It's not the only red herring in this pool of existential mental gymnastics. The entire cast is superb, and the creative team should be familiar to those who saw the Broadway revival a quarter of a century ago: Daldry is once again brilliantly at the helm in this version. The creative team is led by two repeat contributions, Design by Ian MacNeil (a magnificent set) and Lighting by Rick Fisher; there are also Music by Stephen Warbeck, Costume Supervision by Caroline McCall and Sound Design by Sebastian Frost. As MacNeil has suggested elsewhere, we “go in as individuals, have a transformation, and leave as an audience”.

The Cast of "An Inspector Calls"
(photo: Mark Douet)

One would do well to sit back and enjoy the fun, now though March 24^th, at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre. Just tell them A Critic Sent You.