An Inspector Calls
Unless unfortunately orphaned at a very early age, or raised by wolves like my friend Carl, it’s likely you’re quite familiar with both family dinners and family secrets. However, An Inspector Calls, the current production at Lakeside Community Theatre (LCT), starts with a family dinner certainly not quite familiar as our own, as the play is set amongst the ruling class in Edwardian England.
Beau Dameron’s Arthur Birling is the crustiest of the upper crust as he heads his family and his factory with little sympathy or understanding for anyone in either. Dameron’s Birling is tightly wound and a force to be reckoned with when he is challenged, but it’s his glee that’s evident as he toasts his future son-in-law, Gerald Croft, the son of a rival magnate played by Stephen Hyatt, and his only daughter, Sybil Birling, played by Sara Parisa, in celebration of their engagement. Hyatt and Parisa charm as Gerald and Sybil looking every inch a perfect, if somewhat passionless couple, equally matched in good looks, manners, and station. There’s a believable familiarity between the pair and we can see the caring, but perhaps some strain as well, as they banter.
Kristi Lee Smith plays Sybil Birling, the proud matriarch overseeing it all, and is compelling as the woman who does everything more beautifully than you. She manages her husband, staff, and family with elegant assurance and finesse, easily and deliberately ignoring any hints of problems she might not be able to handle, such as her son Eric’s obvious dependence on alcohol. Nathanael Coe’s Eric Birling at first seems merely a whiney, foppish, and thoroughly self-involved scion of privilege, but it becomes all too obvious, as the evening progresses and family secrets are revealed, that he is a tortured soul.
Peyton Jolly’s Edna, the Birling’s maid, is timorous as she interrupts the celebratory toasts and speeches to announce, "an Inspector's called." Inspector Goole, whose last name is a homophone for the word “ghoul”, and as played by Dale Moon, has a morbid fascination with, and an almost omniscient knowledge of, the death of one Eva Smith, whose dead body he says he’s seen that very day. Moon’s Goole is unyielding and relentless as he pushes each member of the family to “confess” or reveal the part they might have played in the events that led to this young girl’s untimely death. The entire cast and Moon are marvelous as they’re interrogated and challenged by Moon’s Goole. Most captivating, perhaps because their characters most wholly accept their responsibility in the tragedy, are the revelations of Parisa’s Sheila and Coe’s Eric as they’re wracked with guilt. However, the most delicious sinking to watch might be when Ice Queen meets iceberg as Smith’s Sybil and Moon’s Goole collide. Again, the interplay between all the character is very strong throughout, such as when Parisa’s Sybil reacts to the confessions of Hyatt’s Gerald.
The play is staged with audience on 3 sides, so the set is necessarily spare, yet evocative of the period, thanks to set design and décor by Robin Mead & Dale Moon. Director Robyn Mead has the actors using the space well, while the Costume Design by Alison Kingwell decks out the cast, especially the women, in some beautiful period costumes. Also, kudos to Ms. Parisa, who is showing her range in this production after playing the hugely different and vampish Veronica Craye in RTC’s recent production of The Hollow.
Yes, everybody in Birling family does have a secret, and it is wonderful to watch the inspector sift through the obfuscations, but there’s still more twists and turns even after all the family secrets have been shared. However, the play’s author, J.B. Priestly, is using the Birling family story to make a point about a much larger and more important family, the one that includes all of us, the “family of man”. More than just the fun of the traditional drawing room drama unfolding in front of you, and you will have fun, this play as directed by Robyn Mead is challenging as well. It challenges us as members of that larger family to take care for our actions as they could have consequences for others in the family, which could lead to even greater consequences for ourselves. Indeed, Goole’s finally warning as he leaves the Birlings is “If men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish". Tickets available at lctthecolony.com
Accessible seating: Yes
Hearing Devices Available: No
Sensory Friendly Showing: No
Audience Rating: PG-13 due to references to suicide
Production Sound Level: Comfortable
Noises and Visuals to Know About: No
See you at the theater!
David Ellivloc
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