AN INSPECTOR CALLS

Stephen Daldry's iconic production at Wyndham's Theatre

13.01.10

It's seventeen years since Daldry's breathtaking rethink changed the way we saw Priestley's drawing-room Morality Play for ever. Its impact is still just as strong, as it nears the end of yet another spell in the West End.

Perhaps not surprisingly, it is a filmic concept, opening out the middle-class interior to a hostile wasteland, using a crowd of supernumeraries, and a stirring score [by Stephen Warbeck].

Principals as well as extras are meticulously directed by Daldry, who came back to tweak this transfer. But the actors manage to find their own individuality, nonetheless. Nicholas Woodeson is a fast-talking Inspector, ratcheting up the tension as he smiles and snarls at his victims, coaxing and cajoling them into confessing their culpability.

Equally impressive were Sandra Duncan's grande dame Sybil – her downfall all the more telling for her haughty froideur – and Marianne Oldham as her daughter, torn between hedonism and compassion. Robin Whiting as the heavy-

drinking son and heir, gave a performance that was beautifully judged emotionally, and physically absolutely convincing.

And I must mention Elizabeth Ross's wonderful Edna, a bridge between the two worlds, emphasising the universality of the piece. She must bring the age range on stage up to something approaching eighty years – children roam the bomb site, gaze in awe at the Birling house on stilts, and act as Curtain Raiser and Hat Stand for a benign Inspector Goole.