Inspector Goole:

One must be careful when called on to review a performance of J.B. Priestly's An Inspector Calls. It would be easy to fall into the trap (and if you've read many reviews you know what I am about to say) of devoting too many column inches disecting the play and not enough on the peformances and production values. Priestly's pre-World War I thriller as presented by Regent University is the exception to the rule.

My, how times have changed. Or have they? The downtrodden masses still work at an unliveable wage, crushed under the boot heels of industrial kingpins whose machinery is greased with their blood sweat and tears. If they rise up and demand what is their due the Bosses close the factories and move to countries with cheap labor and favorable laws. Sound familiar?

The play revolves around industrialist Arthur Birling's family, his daughter's suitor, and the unexpected arrival of the mysterious Inspector Goole. The inspector insists on questioning the entire family one by one as to their personal history dealing with a young woman found to have commited suicide that day. One by one each discovers their part in sealing the girl's fate and, though they protest to owning any responsibility, Inspector Goole peels back their masks of indifference to the plight of those beneath their station revealing the truth. (I did my best not to tell the entire story.)

Priestly's politics play a huge part in An Inspector Calls and the message rings clear in Director Eric Harrell's production. The English class struggle, as depicted in 1912 (valid in many other parts of the world), is the backdrop or foreshadowing of the horror that was to be the First World War. Priestly had first hand knowledge of the trenches, having fought and been wounded in France. Only after surviving a mustard gas attack was he deemed unfit to return to the front lines and sent to the "entertainment" division.

Scenic designer David Shuhy makes good use of the University's Black Box theater in staging the Birling family salon on risers and ramps adorned with period furniture. A red English phone box hovers ominously on top of a broad metal corner stairway leading to the catwalk surrounding the stage. A full-size lamp post rises from the floor and hovers from the opposite corner unlit until the final moment with great affect. The inspector makes his entrance on the catwalk passing through a foggy doorway. As he passes he acknowledges each member of the "chorus" who ring the stage from above standing in mute judgement of the proceedings below.

As an ensemble, the talented cast was believable and, by the end of the evening, held the packed house in the palm of their hands.

Michael Woods' Inspector Goole had just the right touch of sadness. It was as if his justifiable rage was tempered by his knowing what history would realize in the near future. Woods carried off the complex character very well, but by the time act two was in high gear, Priestly's Inspector seemed to be expounding his manifesto for change sometimes at the expense of plot... not Mr. Woods fault.

I was most enamored with the ladies on the stage. Lindsey Mott brought the pampered Birling daughter, Sheila to life with a complexity of character. Once demanding and unfeeling in her dealings with those she deemed beneath her and then as open and vulnerable with the realization and acceptance of her part in the victim's downward spiral. Her regret and new found social conscience gave hope for future change. She provided some welcome laughter as she tried to warn her parents not to rile the inspector. As her mother Devorah Nelson deftly handled the haughty tone of the privileged class without the title only royal blood could provide. Her hopes of marrying her daughter into a family of title and distinction are dashed by the revelations Inspector Goole's questions bring to the surface. As the old guard, she is unwilling to take any responsibility for the young woman's tragic end and is eventually destroyed by her own words. Both women were a pleasure to watch as they peeled back the layers of their respective characters. Well done.

Volumes could be (and have been) written on An Inspector Calls so I will reign in my keyboard soon.

Let me close by saying the Regent production is what college theater should be... thought provoking with risks taken in lighting, staging and set design (the last production staged in England had the Birling parlor elevated above the rubble of the London Blitz with children crawling about the wreckage throughout the performance). The created atmosphere charged us with expectation and, in combination with a strong cast, delivered the goods.