'An Inspector Calls' is a play by J.B Priestly, it is about a wealthy family sitting down at the dining table after dinner with an unexpected visitor entering and spoiling the mood. This play is of the mystery genre and it is set in 1912 and first performed in 1946, just after World War 2.
The lighting in the play starts as light and warm, with a cosy and comfortable feeling, but when the inspector enters the room, its goes cold and gloomy, as if he is a bad person, the effect this has on the audience is that they immediately think that Inspector Goole is not an ordinary character, and that he is perhaps bringing a bad subject to the play.
The props used in the play say a lot about the family, there are wine glasses, bottles, empty plates, and candles, to set the mood of an after dinner situation, this also says that they are well off financially and have a person that earns a lot of money, usually the stereotype of the money earner would be the well dressed man and perhaps the father figure.
An Inspector Calls
Edna faces the crowd as her employers receive judg...
An Inspector Calls (film)Birling
Mr. Birling is the over confident tight fisted character of the play, he has lots of money, but isn't willing to share with the needy or give to charity, this is not stated in the play, but it is suggested in the way he speaks. Dramatic irony is used in the way that when he says "Why a friend of mine went over to this new liner last week - the Titanic - she sails next week - forty six thousand eight hundred tons - New York in five days - and every luxury - and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable" - this is ironic because it did sink...