An Inspector Calls and Other Plays (Penguin Modern Classics)

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They just won't try to understand our position or to see the difference between a lot of stuff like this coming out in a private and a downright public scandal. Her name was Eva Smith, and the Inspector brings with him a photograph, which he shows to Birling—but not to anyone else. His earliest books included The English Comic Characters (1925), The English Novel (1927), and English Humour (1928).

There seems to be a heavy element of doom as she says, "Be careful you don't ask for any more, Gerald. Birling: (noticing that his wife has not taken any) Now then, Sybil , you must a take a little tonight .

Very artfully, working on bits of information he's picked up here and there, he bluffs us into confessing that we've all been mixed up in this girl's life in one way or anther. The mysterious "Inspector Goole" [6] claims to have seen Eva Smith's dead body earlier that day, and to have been given "a duty" to investigate her death and the Birlings' involvement in it. She's had a long exciting and tiring day – we were celebrating our engagement, you know – and now she's obviously had about as much as she can stand. Mrs Birling: her story was – that he'd said something one night when he was drunk, that gave her the idea that it wasn't his money.

Termination of the Agreement (howsoever occasioned) shall not affect any accrued rights or liabilities of either party. But feeling so worried, when he suddenly turned on me with those questions, I answered more or less as he wanted me to answer. She told me her name was Daisy Renton, that she'd lost both parents, that she came originally from somewhere outside Brumley. The play had its first British production in 1946 at the New Theatre in London with Ralph Richardson as Inspector Goole, Harry Andrews as Gerald Croft, Margaret Leighton as Sheila Birling, Julien Mitchell as Arthur Birling, Marian Spencer as Sybil Birling and Alec Guinness as Eric Birling.So – well – I gather there's a very good chance of a knighthood – so long as we behave ourselves, don't get into the police court or start a scandal – eh? Birling makes a lengthy speech, not only congratulating Gerald and Sheila, but also commenting on the state of the nation. Daldry's concept was to reference two eras: the 1945 post-war era, when the play was written, and the ostensible historical setting for the work in pre-war 1912; this emphasised the way the character Goole was observing, and deploring, the Birling family's behaviour from Priestley's own cultural viewpoint. It's a pity Sir George and – we – Lady Croft can't be with us, but they're abroad and so it can't be helped. The action of the play occurs in an English industrial city, where a young girl commits suicide and an eminently respectable British family is subject to a routine inquiry in connection with the death.

She looks at it closely, recognizes it with a little cry, gives a half-stifled sob, and then runs out. I couldn't get any exact details from her about herself – just because she felt I was interested and friendly – but at the same time, she wanted to be Daisy Renton – and not Eva Smith .Birling is then rung by the police, who explain that a young woman has just died at the infirmary in a suspected suicide, and that the police are on their way to question the family. Eric is presented as a " Jack the Lad" character with a drinking habit, which led to him forcing himself on Eva and getting her pregnant. Gerald asks the Inspector, whose control over proceedings is now clear, to leave—and Sheila gives him back his engagement ring.

Also in attendance are Birling's wife Sybil and their young, alcoholic son Eric (whose drinking problem the family discreetly ignores).Inspector: Mrs Birling, you're a member – a prominent member – of the Brumley Women's Charity Organization, aren't you? Well, this girl had brought the dress up from the workroom, and when the assistant – miss Francis – had asked her something about it, this girl, to show us what she meant, had held the dress up, as if she was wearing it. There'll be peace and prosperity and rapid progress everywhere – except of course in Russia, which will always be behindhand naturally . Birling hangs up, he reports that it was the police, informing him that a girl just died on her way to the infirmary after swallowing some disinfectant, and that a Police Inspector is on his way to ask some questions.