Set in the very aorta of Edwardian England, J.B.Priestley’s moral tale of mores, a key school text for both its dramatic and thematic content, is still pertinent sixty years after its entrance into the canon of Great English Drama.

Under the competent direction of Inga Rudzitis, and with plush props to recall the bygone era when the Titanic was declared “unsinkable”, one becomes the fourth wall of the Birling family drawing room.
Celebrations for the engagement of Sheila (Leonie Sheridan) to Gerald Croft, played with enunciated energy by David Elms, is interrupted by the sombre spectre of Inspector Goole (‘ghoul’?).

Alastair Sim and Sir Ralph Richardson have both taken on this role and it is to Paddy Douglas’ credit that he can be spoken of, confidently and without irony, in the same breath: his golden hair and nondescript suit, coupled with the stare he gives each character without ever once glancing at the audience, make him an astonishing and brilliant casting, as he pushes and probes at the guilty consciences of all concerned over the suicide(?) of a young girl. As the script demands, Douglas’ Inspector is ‘massive, solid and purposeful’ in doing his “duty”.

While one looks forward to Douglas’ Hamlet in years to come, there is a future Gertrude playing Sybil Birling: as the assured matriarch who suffers stoically as wife, mother and future-mother-in-law, Alexandra Wetherell puts in a wondrous turn.

Indeed, Mrs Birling doth protest too much at her invisible innocence while husband Arthur – Stephen Graham, who can do hoity, toity and a consistent Brum accent, though spoils it slightly by stumbling, perhaps from the copious drink the characters imbibe, over some lines – frets over how much of a scandal it all is, his family piety at odds with his refusal to give the tragic girl half-a-crown’s wage rise.

The two parents stand at odds with their children, the generation chasm deepening as the play rushes towards its cathartic confusion.

Though Sheridan could do with dampening her hysteria a touch, she nonetheless gives a solid performance as a girl in 1912 going against her parents’ wishes.

Permanently squiffy brother Eric Birling (Neville Galvin, inspired by Alec Guiness’ original) is brilliant and provides a deadpan sanity while all about him go mad.

Played excellently despite the odd hiccup in delivery, there is potential in every actor onstage, and all do justice to an intelligent, intelligible play whose message – “we are all responsible for each other” – still stands even in this post-Communist world.

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Jonny Brick (188.221.73.xxx) 2009-10-21 18:25:14 I'm a massive whoops. Reply 0   0

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