An Inspector Calls

The National Theatre's production of JB Priestley's classic thriller An Inspector Calls in London for a strictly limited eight week season.

"Outstanding. A genuinely great production, enthralling and visually stunning" The Daily Telegraph

April 1912, at the home of the prosperous Birling family - Arthur Birling, his wife Sybil, their daughter Sheila and son Eric are in the drawing room just after dinner celebrating Sheila's engagement to Gerald Croft, son of Sir George Croft, and heir to the most successful family business in the North of England. Their cosy celebration is suddenly interrupted when Edna, the parlour maid, announces the unexpected arrival of Police Inspector Goole. The Inspector has come to the Birling home as part of an inquiry into the death of a young woman. As the Inspector's investigation unfolds, we discover that they each have secrets linking them to the tragedy. His startling revelations not only shatter the very foundations of their lives but challenge us all to examine our consciences.

"Spellbinding. Grabs you by the throat and won't let you go. Long may it do so" The Guardian

"Here it is again, after all the awards and transfers and tours, back in town for an eight-week run, and it has pulled off another knock-out surprise: for Daldry's 1992 calling-card production hasn't even begun to settle into some dusty, well-worn groove. In fact, not only is it ever-green fresh, but it dawns on you that no other revival in this dying decade has come close to matching its breathtaking daring and faultless execution." The Daily Telegraph September 2009

"Thrilling, magisterial production" The Sunday Times

"Stephen Daldry's extraordinary reinvention of J. B. Priestley's classic has lost none of its fierce pertinence. More than 15 years after its first appearance at the National Theatre in 1992, it's still heart-thumpingly thrilling... Ian MacNeil's design is as impressive as ever, and even if it no longer comes as a surprise to many... [the Birling] family's shameful secrets are exposed is a stunning coup de theatre. A faintly coarse note creeps into a couple of the performances, but the acting is mostly compelling... This is, though, outstanding theatre: a production of provocative, penetrating and exuberant brilliance." The Times September 2009

"Stephen Daldry's epoch making re-working of J.B. Priestley’s resounding morality play is a thrilling piece of theatre which must be seen" The Daily Mail

Directed by Stephen Daldry, this ground-breaking revival of An Inspector Calls first opened at the National Theatre in 1992. A huge success, celebrated by critics and audiences alike, the production received three Olivier Awards - for Best Revival, Best Director and Best Designer, two Evening Standard Awards - for Best Director and Best Supporting Actress. The show tranferred to the West End where it enjoyed a two year season, and then opened on Broadway, winning an unprecedented number of awards including four Tony Awards and seven Drama Desk Awards. Daldry said about his production of An Inspector Calls: "All productions develop, it was very much a close collaboration between myself and the designer. But JB Priestley himself - and this play particularly - had always been perceived as a warhorse, a rep standby, and that isn't as he originally wrote it. There were two rather extraordinary productions of it in Moscow which were the first productions, and it wasn't really until it came back to this country in 1946 that it was put into, for example, the dining room. Before that it hadn't been. And JB Priestley himself always described himself as an experimental dramatist - look at his more extraordinary works such as Johnson over Jordan which he wrote with Benjamin Britten, or indeed his work with Hitchcock. I wanted very much to try to reclaim the production, and to see it again in what we hope is a staging much closer to what JB Priestley was intending, rather than the sort of production handed down to us.

The production embarked on an extensive international tour across Australia and the USA and in 1995, launched its second West End season which ran for a a hugely successful seven years. By popular demand, the show has also enjoyed six major national tours. This production of An Inspector Calls has clocked up over 4,000 performances worldwide - making it the longest running revival of a play in history.

An Inspector Calls in London at the Novello Theatre previewed from 22 September 2009, opened on 25 September 2009 and closes 14 November 2009, transferred to Wyndham's Theatre from 3 December 2009.