Written By
J.B.Priestley
Where and When
20th – 23rd February 2002 @ The Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne
The Plot
An Inspector Calls by J B Priestley, is a play that revolves around the apparent suicide of a young woman called Eva Smith.
In the play, the unsuspecting Birling family are visited by the mysterious Inspector Goole. He arrives just as they are celebrating the engagement of Sheila Birling to Gerald Croft. The Inspector reveals that a girl called Eva Smith, has taken her own life by drinking disinfectant. The family are horrified but initially confused as to why the Inspector has called to see them. What follows is a tense and uncomfortable investigation by an all-knowing Inspector through which the family discover that they are all in fact caught up in this poor girl’s death.
Cast
- Inspector Goole – Jeremy Austin
- Arthur Birling – Russ Guillaume
- Sybil Birling – Jan Bursby
- Gerald Croft – Tony Feltham
- Sheila Birling – Boo Dickson
- Eric Birling – Chris Piper
- Edna – Tracey Nicholls
Creative Team
- Director – Martin Matthews
- Set Designer – Amanda Brown
- Stage Manager – Tracey Nicholls
- ASM – Jan Stevenson
- Make-up – Chrissie Neal and Clare Downs
- Costumes – Eclectia Costumes and Carolyn Hewitt
For the Tivoli Theatre
- Stage Manager – Ashley Thorne
- Lighting and Sound – Russell Parker
Preview
Priestley classic calls at the Tivoli
One of the twentieth century’s classic plays is coming to Wimborne – and it is likely to make as powerful a statement to today’s audiences as it did when first performed in 1945.
J. B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls will be staged at the Tivoli Theatre from Wednesday to Saturday next week by double Curtain Call Award winners Wimborne Drama, who are celebrating their 70th anniversary this year.
Priestley wrote An Inspector Calls in the last weeks of the second world war. He set the piece in 1912, and by pitching the Edwardian mindset of a comfortable middle class family against the brave new post war vision of the mysterious Inspector Goole, Priestley challenges us all to think about our role and responsibility in society, and to show care and compassion to the needy.
Through this play – and his wartime BBC radio broadcasts – Priestley helped to change the political landscape in Britain and contributed in no small way to Labour’s election victory of 1945 and the subsequent creaton of the welfare state and the national health service.
However, An Inspector Calls is more than just a social and political commentary. It is also a compelling and haunting thriller, with plenty of the theatrical excitement to keep the audience gripped throughout.
The production marks the directorial debut of Martin Matthews and stars Jeremy Austin as Inspector Goole and Russ Guillaume as Arthur Birling. Also featured are Jan Bursby, Tony Feltham, Boo Dickson, Chris Piper and tracey Nicholls.
Gallery
Reviews
Drama is a record breaker
The notion that we are all responsible to each other in our lives was strikingly displayed in this J B Priestley drama of class prejudice and hypocrisy. It is set in early 1912 during a celebratory dinner party that is interrupted by the arrival of a police inspector with life-shattering news.
In the role of Inspector Goole a lugubrious Jeremy Austin skilfully peeled off the veneer of smug respectability of this upper-middle-class family like a good chat show host, allowing his interviewees to divulge their secrets with the minimum of intervention.
The self-justification of Sybil Birling (a superb Jan Bursby) and defensive rantings of her husband Arthur (a somewhat laboured performance by Russ Guillaume) served as a good foil to the younger members of the family, a generation prepared to accept the social changes taking place.
Boo Dickson and Tony Feltham gave robust performances as daughter Sheila and her finance Gerald Croft, well matched by Chris Piper, as son Eric, in a heartfelt and telling portrayal of a young blade restrained in a claustrophobic atmosphere.
Martin Matthews made a strong directorial debut with this production, which has smashed the company’s previous box office records and played to near-full houses.
The Tivoli Theatre boasted full houses last week when Wimborne Drama presented a four-day run of the classic play An Inspector Calls. A number of local schools including Corfe Hills and Queen Elizabeth’s are studying J.B. Priestley’s challenge to our role and responsibilities in society for this year’s GCSE, and so there were many teenagers in the audience.
When reviewing a performance, it is good to take your eyes off the stage now and then, to assess the reaction of those sitting nearby. And it was very positive.
The youngsters sat quietly throughout and showed a high degree of appreciation at the end, evidence that they enjoyed not just the intriguing plot, but the performance of the award-winning drama group.
“The stage set is as good as any I’ve seen at professional productions,” said one of my companions, who in addition to being a volunteer at the Tivoli, is an ardent theatregoer. The scenery was so expertly constructed that it made the stage look huge, giving the impression that we were being invited into a prosperous Edwardian drawing-room.
It is a thought-provoking play that moves quickly to its chilling end and the actors handled their roles expertly. Of the strong cast of Jeremy Austin, Russ Guillaume, Jan Bursby, Boo Dickson, Chris Piper, Tracey Nicholls and Tony Feltham, my three companions and I plumped for Chris Piper and Tony Feltham as the stars.
Martin Matthews is a familiar face to followers of Wimborne Drama, but this time he took the role of director, a debut that will ensure his name will head the production credits for many more years to come.
Programme
