The Birling family won’t be too happy to hear that Inspector Goole is calling again but for audiences at Milton Keynes Theatre he’s a very welcome visitor.
Director Stephen Daldry’s astonishing production of JB Priestly’s classic time and mind bending thriller was an innovative smash hit when it first aired at The National Theatre. Twenty five years on it has been seen by more than four million people worldwide, has won a total of 19 major awards and is recognised as the theatrical event of its generation.
Celebrating the engagement of their daughter with a civilised dinner party, the Birlings’ peace is shattered by the arrival of a police inspector who is investigating the death of a young woman. His startling revelations shake the very foundations of their lives and, in doing so, challenge us all to examine our consciences.
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Liam Brennan will play ‘Inspector Goole’, Christine Kavanagh ‘Mrs Birling’, Jeff Harmer ‘Mr Birling’, Alasdair Buchan ‘Gerald Croft’, Chloe Orrock ‘Sheila Birling’, Ryan Saunders ‘Eric Birling’ and Diana Payne-Myers ‘Edna’. The cast is completed by Michael Ross, Portia Booroff, Elissa Churchill and Jonathan Davenport.
Designer Ian McNeill, lighting designer Rick Fisher and composer Stephen Warbeck have created an unforgettable backdrop to Daldry’s visionary and radical production.
Though set in 1912, that pre-WWI golden era in which families such as the Birlings enjoyed the last hurrah of comfortable middle class complacency, the play was written in 1945, at the end of WW2, when it looked as though a new social order was about to begin.
By looking both back and forwards in time, the production evokes a haunting feeling of loss for all that has gone and cannot be changed alongside a fragile hope for the future.
As Iain Gillie, producer of An Inspector Calls, who has been associated with the show from its very beginnings says: “There’s no better example of theatrical elements coming together to form a truly inspirational masterpiece - and there’s never been a better time to experience this play.”
An Inspector Calls will be at MK Theatre from Monday (Jan 21).
To book your seat click here
