THEATRE REVIEW: An Inspector Calls ★★★

An Inspector Calls

Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham

October 1st 2015

When I was in my later years of education at school, I was studying literature in the forms of Malorie Blackman's 'Noughts and Crosses' as well as Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird', but always knew of another book being studied, this resulting to being 'An Inspector Calls'. I knew very little about the story previously coming into watching this production, and I think this was a huge benefit as even though I found this version of a classic very draining, I couldn't help but be gripped right the way throughout!

I had heard from many sources who had seen this production in previous years that one of the main attractions to this performance was the actual set, which has a constructed building right on stage, and they were not lying! The first reveal of the set is set to music that I almost felt resonated a Phantom of the Opera feel with the bold music score as the curtains lifted. A lot more is revealed from the set which I will not divulge into with this review as I would not want to spoil any of the plot, but I really felt the hairs stand on the back of my neck from the reveal at the beginning, and the use of rain also made the whole feel extremely realistic!

If I'm honest from first viewing though, I found sometimes that the dialogue was hard to follow, though this was of little fault the actors. I just felt that at times I found it hard to understand different strands of the story from each if Thu characters, and even though as the action unravelled in the final act, I still left feeling puzzled of a few things that I witnessed on stage, left feeling unanswered. It does make me wonder if maybe I had read the script beforehand or studied it to find out more, I would have had a better and deeper understanding.

Overall, An Inspector Calls is a visual delight from the straight, with a spine tingling score to suit, but personally lacked the depth in dialogue when it came to the character's backgrounds and strands, though this not hindering the edge of your seat experience in the slightest!