Acacia Theater dusts off J.B. Priestley’s 1945 classic, An Inspector Calls, with wonderful results. The production plays in a newly created, black box-type theater in an Episcopal Church.
Under the taut direction of Glenna Gustin, audiences are hooked from the very beginning of this murder mystery. The play is set in Brumley, an English manufacturing town, in 1912. As the play begins, the Birling family, outfitted in resplendent, upper middle class dress (courtesy of costume designer Katlyn Rogers Kelly) is celebrating the engagement of a daughter, Sheila (Maura Atwood) to Gerald (Austin Lepper), the heir to an established local firm. The jovial mood is soon cut short by the mysterious, unannounced arrival of a police inspector named Goole (Richard Gustin). He brings news of a young girl who has committed suicide by drinking a large quantity of disinfectant. He says he has access to the girl’s diary, which apparently incriminates everyone in the room. An Inspector Calls was first performed in Russia in 1945, before it was moved to a West End theater the following year. The play’s first Broadway production was in 1947 at the Booth Theater. It was revived at the Royale Theater (now the Bernie Jacobs Theatre) in 1994, starring the late Philip Bosco. That production, created by British director Stephen Daldry, won the 1994 Tony Award for Best Revival. Several films have been made of the play, the first in 1954 (starring the late Alastair Sim as Inspector Goole). A 2015 film of the same name starred Miranda Richardson (“The Crying Game”) as Sheila. The play has been hailed as a classic of mid-20th-century English theater, especially for its exposure of a selfish, hypocritical upper class that directly benefits from its abuse and exploitation of the lower classes. In the case of the deceased woman, Inspector Goole starts out by questioning the evening’s host, Arthur Birling (played with the stereotypically British stiff upper lip by the talented Joe Dolen). Once he gets Arthur to confess how he knows the girl (she was let go from her factory job for organizing a brief strike), the Inspector moves on to the rest of the family. Sheila, who first appears as a giddy ingenue, soon distinguishes herself as the play’s most sympathetic character. Equally chagrined at his role in the young woman’s disappearance and suicide is Sheila’s brother, Eric (Bizen Ghebregziabiher). Conversely, their parents are mostly put off by the inspector’s “impertinent” tone and attitude. This is especially true in the case of the mother, Sybil (Janet Peterson). Normally a submissive spouse, Sybil is rankled by the notion that her encounter with the deceased woman had anything to do with the woman’s death. Janet Peterson gives a particularly credible performance in this role, as does Richard Gustin as the bulldoggish Inspector. Near the play’s end, the Inspector has a monologue in which he reveals that people such as the poor woman in question are everyone’s responsibility. He points out how a little kindness might have saved this particular woman but notes how many more laborers are out there, needing some assistance. The Acacia cast has mastered the intricate back-and-forth banter that distinguishes this production, keeping audiences on the edge of their seats. This play also causes the audience to think about its own role in people’s lives. As such, it’s a mystery story with a moral. If you haven’t seen An Inspector Calls, do not let this opportunity pass you by.
