TEHRAN- Tehran Theater Hall will be playing host to a reading performance of English playwright J.B. Priestley’s “An Inspector Calls” on June 20. 

The performance will be directed by Azita Momenian, based on a Persian translation by Mehdi Amini.

The performance will be held by a cast composed of Shahram Samiei, Nahid Bakhtiari, Niloufar Abbasi, Hamidreza Solgi and Saeideh Rouhani. 

“An Inspector Calls” is a seminal piece of mid-20th-century English theater, functioning as both a drawing-room drama and a modern morality play with a sharp socialist edge. First performed in the Soviet Union in May 1945—a context that underscores its political weight—it saw its London debut the following year at the New Theater. 

Set in the fictional industrial town of Brumley in April 1912, the play unfolds over a single evening, capturing a moment of transition just before the onset of World War I. The story focuses on the Birlings, a prosperous upper-middle-class family. As the play opens, Arthur Birling, a wealthy factory owner and magistrate, is celebrating his daughter Sheila’s engagement to Gerald Croft. The atmosphere is one of self-congratulation; Arthur delivers a lecture to the young men on the virtues of self-reliance and "looking after one's own," while expressing total confidence in a future of industrial progress and his own impending knighthood.

The celebratory atmosphere is shattered by the arrival of Inspector Goole, a mysterious and commanding figure investigating the suicide of a young woman named Eva Smith, who died after drinking disinfectant. Though Arthur initially denies knowing her, the Inspector reveals that Eva worked in Birling’s factory. Arthur admits he fired her two years prior for leading a strike for higher wages, asserting that his only responsibility was to keep labor costs low. He remains entirely remorseless, viewing his actions as a standard business decision.

As the interrogation continues, the Inspector reveals that Eva’s misfortune was a cumulative effort. Sheila is the next to be confronted. She confesses that, while shopping at an upscale store called Milwards, she used her social status to have Eva fired from her new job. Sheila’s motivation was petty jealousy; she felt Eva, a shop assistant, looked better in a dress Sheila wanted than she did herself. Unlike her father, Sheila is overcome with guilt, realizing that her vanity had direct, devastating consequences.

The focus then shifts to Gerald Croft, who recognizes the girl by another name: Daisy Renton. Gerald admits to having met her at a bar where she had resorted to prostitution. He rescued her from a difficult situation, providing her with housing and financial support, eventually becoming her lover. While Gerald’s intentions were initially charitable, he eventually discarded her when the affair became inconvenient. Heartbroken and destitute, Eva was forced to seek help elsewhere.

The narrative reaches a peak of hypocrisy with Sybil Birling, Arthur’s wife. As a leader of a prominent charity, she was Eva’s last hope. Pregnant and desperate, Eva approached the committee calling herself Mrs. Birling. Sybil, offended by what she saw as a mockery of her name, used her influence to deny the girl any aid. She blamed Eva’s irresponsibility and insisted that the father of the child should be held accountable—completely unaware that the drunken young man she was condemning was her own son, Eric.

In the final movement of this interrogation, Eric enters and confesses to his involvement. After meeting Eva at the same bar as Gerald, he forced himself on her and later stole money from his father’s firm to support her. Eva, exhibiting more integrity than the Birlings, refused the stolen money and severed contact. 

The play concludes as a stark indictment of the Birlings’ collective lack of social conscience. Through Goole, Priestley warns that we are all members of one body, responsible for each other. If society fails to learn this lesson, it will eventually be taught in "fire and blood and anguish."

SAB/