to see An Inspector Calls

  On February 24th, I went to see the FSU/Asolo Conservatory production of An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley, and the fun thing about this play is that my MOM directed it! (I think that she did an unbelievably fantastical job so thx mom 😀 ) This play is about a family celebrating their daughter's (Brielle Rivera) engagement with a rich guy (Jordan Rich - ‘Rich?’ that's funny haha) when suddenly an inspector (Mikhail Roberts) calls and tells everyone that a girl committed suicide and he came to investigate why she killed herself.  He asks them questions and they think that they have never heard of her before but no… they all actually know her really and they have some sort of mysterious connection with this girl. 

The lighting was spot on because it matched what was happening in the story, for example when they were having the party, it was all rosy and it was normal, but when the inspector arrives, it's bright white because the interrogation lights come on and it's like, they need that light not only because it was kind of hard to see with the rosy light but also because it made a lot of sense because it matched the intensity of the situation. The lighting was designed by Cristopher McVicker, who also designed the set. Ok so now we will talk about the set. Who designed the set again? Oh, right, the same guy who designed the lights! The set basically was set in a nondescript room with fancy furnishings. This room also had broken stuff, like broken floors and broken trims, and broken paintings and I think this symbolizes something like how this experience will break up how things were and create the realization of certain actions that some people may or may not have done. 

The father was played by Brian Zane and I liked his moooooostache. It was very good. I also thought that he was very funny. One of his lines made me laugh out loud, it was like…“A friend of mine is going on the ‘titanic’. It's UNSINKABLE!” like… ummmm, wait til he learns it’s not!!! The mom was played by Brooke Turner and I thought it was funny how through most of the play she was like “I DIDN'T DO IT I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT” I believed her, but also, we all knew she must have done something and so it was also funny. I also think that one of the best actors was Brielle Rivera because she was the one who understood the situation best, I felt her sad scenes and they looked very very realistic. Jordan Rich was also good. The brother was played by Jackson Purdy and I thought he did a really good job at pretending to be funny, drunk and frustrated throughout the play, it seemed very truthful. AND FINALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTER….. THE INSPECTOR; Mikhail Roberts did a very good job at being an inspector because even I felt like I was being interrogated even though HE WAS TALKING TO people on the stage. I think he did a very good job at sniffing out the squad. 

I believe that this play is about how we are all connected in a way and taking a deeper look at what we do and how we impact others no matter how significant it is, and all of this makes it a very meaningful play, an important play. It should make us all think…how can we do better? I think that all people over the age of 9 should go see this play. I would give this play 17 inspector hats out of 18 because I really like this play. 

Bye bye for now, Gunnar

An Inspector Calls Runs Tues-Sunday - March 11th

Ticket information: Asolo/Conservatory Season

Photo Credit: Frank Artura