expressandstar.com

An Inspector Calls
Birmingham Rep
By Jerald Smith

As the rich and successful Birling family sit down to a celebratory dinner in 1912 there is little to suggest that their world is about to come crashing down, literally shaken to its foundations – perfectly mirrored in Ian MacNeil’s wonderfully-inventive collapsing set.

Following the arrival of Inspector Goole each of them is forced to come to terms with their involvement in the suicide of a young working-class girl.

However, playwright J B Priestley has the ability to expose the nature of human frailty and fallibility, with the result that family relationships begin to implode.

There’s an excellent cast to bring the story to life. Christopher Saul plays a bluff blustering businessman Arthur Birling, while Sandra Duncan, as his wife Sybil, is magnificent as the arch-type Tory matron.

Runs until February 14.