An Inspector Calls

Published Monday 21 April 2008 at 10:25 by Andrew Liddle

Inspectors come along with a frequency that Priestley could hardly have foreseen when penning his enigmatic play in the dark days at the end of the Second World War. This gritty and poignant production is as likely as any to remain in memory.

Paul Webster - born in Bradford just around the corner from where Priestley once lived - gives a towering performance in the title role. At times gently persuasive, elsewhere hectoring and belligerent, but always slightly hunched and staring, he does what he has to in pursuit of the truth. But then he seems to know it anyway, a suspicion confirmed by his occasional messianic poses.

Natalie Burt’s Sheila Birling is the most sympathetic character to come under scrutiny. Like her brother, Peter Bramhill’s squiffy Eric, she does learn from the trauma of being taken through the last tragic days of Eva Smith’s life. Eric, indeed, seems to have a realistic chance of benefiting from the sobering experience.

It is doubtful, however, if the parents recognise anything of the family’s collective guilt in the girl’s suicide. Arthur Birling, whose small-minded provincialism is admirably caught by Christopher Wilkinson, remains as morally blinkered as ever. Eileen O’Brien excels as his rigidly righteous spouse, Sybil, equally quick to recover composure.

Gregory Finnegan’s slightly raffish Gerald alone seems capable of acknowledging blame without beating himself up about it.

Under Robin Herford’s taut direction, this is a welcome addition to the canon, rich in social conscience and heavy with the sort of pre-Great War dramatic irony that plays around with the audience’s emotions.