Photo Credit: Laura Heise
“You seem to be a very well-behaved family,” says Gerald Croft of the well-to-do Birlings, soon after getting engaged to Shelia Birling. But appearances deceive, and lies are eventually exposed in J.B. Priestley’s famous drawing room mystery, An Inspector Calls. Acacia Theatre Company forged on given the current health pandemic, and for those who attended, it was well worth the public trek to see one of the very few live—entertaining—productions still going on in the city.
Over the course of two hours, the Birlings are subjected to the intense interrogation of Inspector Goole (Richard Gustin), investigating the suicide of a young woman, Eva Smith, who left behind a diary filled with information regarding the members of the upper-middle class family: the father, Arthur (Joe Dolan), a successful capitalist; mother Sybil (Janet Peterson), head of charities for the poor; son Eric (Bizen Ghebregziabiher) and daughter Sheila (Maura Atwood). Even fiancée Croft (Austin Lepper) is implicated.
Priestley, an avowed socialist, wrote the now 75-year-old play to attack and expose the pretensions of Great Britain’s Victorian and Edwardian class hierarchies, as well as to highlight the professional and personal exploitation of young women like Eva. The ideological battle between capitalism and socialism is reflected directly in the increasingly combative interchanges between the inspector and the elder Birling, especially as more truths come to light.
Director Glenna Gustin makes effective use of the 99-seat space with its thrust staging in Norvell Commons, and the cast performs solidly throughout—especially Peterson, who emits a delightfully venomous condescension while fighting to maintain genteel control as the holier-than-thou Sybil; and Dolan, who fully embodies the brutish businessman underneath a “good-ol’-boy” façade. Also, Gustin’s Goole is steely and incisive in getting at the truth.
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So, whodunit? It doesn’t matter; it’s what they didn’t do to help the poor, helpless woman in her time of need that matters. We’re responsible for each other,” says Goole in his final speech. “We don’t live alone.” In these current times of heightened fear and uncertainty of what tomorrow brings, these words take on a new-yet-familiar meaning. If only, like the people in An Inspector Calls, we will listen—and learn.
Through March 29 in Norvell Commons at St. Christopher’s Church, 7845 N. River Road, River Hills (but given the evolving situation regarding the novel coronavirus pandemic, be sure to call ahead regarding future performances).
