REVIEW: AN INSPECTOR CALLS at Cockpit

In her director’s note, Linda Chambers, director of Cockpit-in-Court’s final summer offering, An Inspector Calls discusses the parallels between the play and the sailing of the Titanic, both of which take place in the spring of 1912. And even though the play mentions that unsinkable ship with the same haughty upper-class snobbery that many of the actual passengers felt (and allowing the audience one of several chuckles of the evening), and the characters themselves are facing similar ruin for their superiority, one thing is for sure: if the Titanic had been helmed as well as Ms. Chambers helmed this production, that boat might just have made it to New York. Her work is THAT good.

Known to local audiences for directing last season’s Crimes of the Heart at the same venue (and with many of the same cast members – and who can blame them for joining her again? They fit together like hands in fine gloves.) Chambers has avoided every iceberg that this play could have caused. As An Inspector Calls is a mystery, I will try to avoid all major plot points, and just talk in generalities. One potential problem faced and expertly overcome is that the play is very chatty, and many times redundant (think of the poem, “The House That Jack Built”), though partly, I’m sure to keep the audience up to speed with what happens in each of the play’s three acts. How does she do this? The pacing is brisk, the staging tight and focused, and carefully modulated so as to increase the tension to a fever pitch. Truly, by about 5 minutes into act three, you could have heard a pin drop and the tension was palpable in the theatre.

Another potential pitfall is the fact that this is an old-fashioned drawing room mystery, and to be honest in real-life would require little movement. And yet, director and cast have expertly, and nearly flawlessly executed moves for this ensemble that reminds one of a complex ballet crossed with world champion chess. Nearly every move is justified and carefully plotted out, keeping things interesting and, well, moving. There were a few times that cast members blocked each other from view and seemed a tad awkward, and may just be a function of where I was seated. The characterizations are that interesting, that you don’t want to miss seeing a single second. But never did it inhibit meaning or hearing a word.

And one last iceberg avoided is that in act three the proceedings get decidedly didactic. Chambers and cast hit it head on, turning a preachy speech into an eerie and hugely effective inclusion of the audience, and all at once making us aware, and hopefully a little ashamed, that our ideas and ideals as the human race haven’t changed at all. One hundred years and we have made so little progress…

In terms of production, An Inspector Calls again hits on all cylinders to create a complete package of thrilling theatricality. Everything about the production contributes to the concept. Bravo to Ms. Chambers for creating such a seamless effort – and kudos to each member of the production team. Sherrionne Brown’s simple but elegant set proves that less is more is the best way to go, suggesting wealth and a sterile almost emotionless environment, much like the inhabitants of the house (not home) in question. It is most interesting and very telling that even though the bar and fireplace are at extreme corners of the in-the-round set, the bar is a true focal point, and the fireplace, the lone source of warmth in the house, and in the very same room, is as remote as the North Pole – a neat metaphor for the family in the play and their priorities. The sound and music also nicely contribute to the tension and meaning of the piece.

Designed by Brad J. Ranno, Ms. Chambers and Erik Morra respectively, the sound and lighting includes some music that is literally hair-raising as the play goes on, and some very creepy lighting as each act opens. As each act begins, the maid, Edna (played with exquisite solemnity by Ashley Fain) walks the room completing her duties in silence and with a look of resignation. Then she stands very still, awaiting her employers and her next orders. And in a stunning, you-can-only-do-this-in-live-theatre fashion, Edna’s place is hammered home when not one family member even looks at her. It is as if she doesn’t exist, or even worse, doesn’t matter. And when the mystery is solved, that staging comes back to haunt cast and audience alike. I could barely sit still from the shivers up and down my spine, and I know I wasn’t the only one. Add the lovely costumes designed by James J. Fasching, which, like everything else in the production, are precise and full of meaning, and the result is that increasingly rare moment at any level of theatre, where cast, technicians and director create moments of sheer theatrical brilliance. It is those moments I cling to when defending my own love and preference for live theatre over film. It is often said that film can do things the stage can’t. The opposite is also true, and a fine example of that is onstage at Cockpit-in-Court.

The level of acting is equally superior. There really isn’t a weak link here, and in fact this company represents the best ensemble of actors currently onstage in Baltimore, and one of the three best ensemble efforts this year locally – And Then There Were None and Southern Baptist Sissies both at Spotlighters, the other two – a fine set of productions, and all in the same year! It has to be said in print (and if it hasn’t already been done, shame on other local publications) that Liz Boyer Hunnicutt is an absolute asset to any production she is in. Her presence alone brings everyone else up a notch. And talk about versatility! This is the same woman who in 8 months time has played the Princess Puffer in Drood (at Vagabonds) and Georgie in The Full Monty (at Cockpit), and now with Sybil Birling in An Inspector Calls, she is a Triple Crown winner. Is there anything the woman can’t do? My frequent companion to productions and I agree – she is a reason to see any show she is in. As Sybil, she is a veritable stone wall of righteous indignation and high-class snobbery. Wisely, Hunnicutt infuses just enough warmth and even humor to make the sharp edges shaper, not softer, and one must watch her face carefully. It is only there that she ever so briefly lets Sybil’s cracks show, before they are hidden forever. Brilliant. As her husband, Arthur, Bryon Predika walks the fine line between pomposity, righteousness, entitlement, and creating a complete buffoon of a man. Arthur is a character of depth and nuance, and Predika plays every single one of them, creating a frustrating character that one hopes will eventually get his due.

It is always a pleasure to watch an actor take a part that could easily be a one-note boor and make a multi-dimensional character out of it. Such is the case with the talented Stephanie A. McLaughlin, in the role of daughter, Sheila. What makes her especially delightful is that she allows Sheila to become stronger instead of weaker every single time (and it happens FREQUENTLY) someone tells her she is becoming upset or tells her she is too nosey or that she “really should go lie down.” No, this Sheila gets stronger and more interesting with each line. As her dour, beaten, alcoholic brother, Erick, actor Ian Bonds does similarly layered work. His mastery is particularly gratifying as you watch as the character faces his demons and punishes himself with guilt, and finally, when he finally finds his voice and pummels anyone who comes near him with words of anger and pain. Terry Hickey does fine work, too, with the role of Sheila’s new fiancé, Gerald, who embodies both the old style manners of her parents and the forward thinking of his generation. But he is also a fox, cunning and tricky. Were there a sequel, one wouldn’t want to cross this Gerald.

Finally, in the titular role of Inspector Goole (more not so subtle humor which adds to the proceedings) Ted Burke does some terrific work. At first, he comes across as stiff cardboard – very one-dimensional – until audience and cast alike come to realize this maddening interpretation wears you down just like an inspector should wear down his suspects. Perhaps, after establishing that M.O., though, he might modulate, so that his climatic outburst comes across as more realistic and not so out of the norm that it induces some unwanted giggling as it did opening night. But that is a very small qualm in an otherwise perfect evening of theatre.

The unfortunate news in all of this is that An Inspector Calls only plays two weekends, and closes next Sunday, August 6th. That said this is the MUST SEE show of the summer. Snatch up those remaining tickets. You won’t be sorry.

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