An Inspector calls at Prospect Playhouse
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from April 1991.
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The play is based around a North England mill owner's family in 1912, when the gap between rich and poor was very pronounced. The play is meant to be a social commentary of its time.
Ian Bowell plays Arthur Birling, the father of this affluent Yorkshire family. He is a former mayor of the town where they live.
The performance opens with the family enjoying a celebratory dinner to mark the engagement of the daughter, Sheila Birling (played by Caroline Beresford-Wylie), to another local mill-owner's son, Gerald Croft, played by Peter O'Sullivan. Other members of the family present at the dinner include the mother, Sybil Birling, played by Jacqueline Caunt, and the son, Eric Birling, played by Piers Hill. Maria Fisher plays the part of the family's maid. The evening is interrupted by the untimely arrival of Police Inspector Goole, played by Jeffrey Parker, who tells the family of the suicide of a local girl. As the plot unfurls the inspector establishes links between the dead girl of modest means and each member of this upper-middleclass family.
There is a moral twist to the tale creating a surprise ending to this three act play which lasts one and three quarter hours. There is a ten minute interval between acts.
The play will be run as dinner theatre on Saturday 27 April and Saturday 4 May with tickets costing $25. The dinner will start at 7pm and the play will commence at 8pm at the Prospect Playhouse.
On Thursday 25 April and Thursday 2 May and on Friday 26 April and Friday 3 May, the play will be run as traditional theatre starting at 8pm, again at the Prospect Playhouse. Tickets will cost $10 (adults) and $5 (children) for these performances.
