By Mike Hoban

‘An Inspector Calls’ – Written by J.B. Priestley; Directed by Stephen Daldry; Set Design by Ian MacNeil; Lighting Design by Rick Fisher; Music Direction by Stephen Warbeck; Sound Design by Sebastian Frost. Presented by ArtsEmerson at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont St., Boston through March 24

Perhaps what is most striking about An Inspector Calls, the riveting National Theatre touring production from London now being presented by ArtsEmerson, is how closely its theme and language reflect the current state of affairs between the haves and have nots – despite the fact that the play made its stage debut just after the close of World War II.  An Inspector Calls is an Agatha Christie-style drawing room crime drama that – on the surface – investigates the connection between the apparent suicide of a young woman and the Birlings, a wealthy and politically connected family in the fictitious industrial town of Brumley, England, where the family patriarch owns a factory.

Read more “The ‘Haves’ Are Taken to Task in ArtsEmerson’s ‘An Inspector Calls’”