By George Tew

JB Priestley's An Inspector Calls is a detective story with ghostly overtones, as well as a vigorous political statement. Set in 1912, it opens with a party to celebrate the engagement of heiress Sybil and wealthy, well-bred Gerald. Sybil's father - a successful industrialist hoping for a knighthood - her mother, and her brother are also present, all happily cocooned in a world of riches and privilege.

Into this happy scene enters Inspector Goole, investigating the suicide of a young girl. As the family's involvement in this girls' death is revealed, and as their guilty secrets and shameful acts emerge, their cosy world begins to unravel. And yet, they come to realise that all is not as it seems…

This play has, apparently, won more awards than any other, and is an enduring classic of the British stage. Personally I struggle to see why. Admittedly, the work employs a strong narrative device and there is at least one clever twist. Its message is undoubtedly important, although the the polemical social commentary is conveyed with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. The dialogue is clunking and repetitive; the characters flat stereotypes. Even the celebrated dénouement doesn't really take us by surprise.

This production (directed by Stephen Daldry, of Billy Elliot fame) is well-worth seeing, though, as it is a marvellously staged, enjoyably quirky interpretation. The set is outstanding. The family house, raised above the stage and opening up to reveal a luxurious dining room, is surrounded by the blitz-ravaged ruins of a 1940s street. The house spectacularly "collapses" during the performance, only to be reassembled towards the end. This echoes the family's change in fortunes, while the wartime setting calls to mind the context in which this 1946 play was written, as well as stressing the threat of social decay and destruction that the play's central speech warns of.

The actors perform in a stylised, melodramatic, somewhat jokey manner, and there is a slightly tongue in cheek feel about the whole production. This doesn't detract from the integrity and serious message of the text, but does inject a welcome inventiveness and playfulness into what, to my mind, is a very dated work.