Dramatic methods

Priestley's stage directions tell us a lot. The dining room is ‘substantial and heavily comfortable, but not cosy and homelike’ (Act 1): the Birlings are rich, but there is no real warmth in the family.

Each character's first description sums them up, such as Mr Birling as ‘rather portentous’ (Act 1) and the Inspector's ‘massiveness, solidity and purposefulness’ (Act 1).

Stage directions also show how lines are spoken. Words like ‘bitterly’, ‘angrily’ and ‘triumphantly’ show the actors, and readers, how each character feels as the pressure builds.

The lighting is to be ‘pink and intimate’ until the Inspector arrives, and then ‘brighter and harder’ (Act 1).

Pink and intimate suggests a warm, rosy, comfortable glow, like the family's view of themselves: everything is cosy and nothing is wrong. It also hints at seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses.

Brighter and harder suggests the glare of a police interrogation. Nothing can stay hidden, and every character is exposed.

The change marks the moment the Inspector arrives, and shows that the play is about to examine the family under a harsh light.

Priestley times entrances and exits for maximum effect.

• The doorbell rings exactly as Mr Birling says a man must look after himself, so the Inspector arrives as if to answer him.
• Gerald leaves for a walk in Act 2, and returns in Act 3 with the news that there is no Inspector Goole.
• Act 2 ends as Eric walks in, just as his mother has demanded that the father be punished.
• The Inspector leaves straight after his final speech, so his words hang in the air.

These moments create tension, cliffhangers and dramatic irony, and they keep the plot moving towards each new revelation.

Two sounds frame the drama.

The doorbell interrupts Mr Birling's speech and brings in the Inspector. It breaks into the family's comfortable world from outside.

The telephone rings sharply at the very end. Mr Birling reports that a girl has just died and ‘a police inspector is on his way here’ (Act 3). The play closes before he arrives.

This creates a cyclical structure: the evening is about to happen again. Priestley leaves the audience with a question: if you had a second chance, would you learn the lesson?