"When An Inspectors Calls, answer the door"

By Peter Rusland
Cowichan Valley News Leader

Don't expect just another murder mystery in An Inspector Calls.

Chemainus Theatre's fall play opened Friday to a deserved standing ovation after offering us more mystery about the human condition than the murder on stage. Director Jeremy Tow's seven-member cast and creative crew used their new production facility to deliver one of the theatre's finest whodunits to date.

In short, Inspector is a chilling piece of dejä -vu drama that would make the late playwright J.B. Priestley smile.

Brilliant acting pumped life into each living character while the spirit of deceased Edna (Emma Claire Miller) was evoked by Mike Bowen's lighting design and Noah Drew's haunting sound effects. Vocal volume was generally good but required more at times from the female actors.

Bernard Cuffling was gripping as the poker-faced British Insp. Goole who dropped a ton of collective guilt on the condescending Birling clan that contributed to Edna's heinous death. The earnest cop's mantra that humankind doesn't live alone but must care for each other was drilled into each character whose closet carried a skeleton. However, Cuffling's acting was matched by his stage mates.

John B. Lowe used smoldering eyes, a Scrooge-like manner and a booming voice to depict pompous patriarch Arthur Birling. Donna Carroll White added Victorian charm and halting remorse to her turn as dame Sybil Birling. Julius Chapple was grand as smug blue-blood Gerald Croft who conspires with the Birlings to twist the truth, once revealed. But Goole's message about embracing goodwill toward men isn't lost on a repentant young Sheila Birling (Samantha Madely) and her tormented brother, Eric (David Snider).

It's clear the late TV playwright and novelist Rod Serling was a Priestley fan. Inspector draws on the same moral warnings and eerie endings Serling employed in his timeless Twilight Zone series.

The Chemainus Theatre would do well to stage another Priestley work before inviting Agatha Christie back to town.

Murder-mystery play rating: 9 virtues out of 10.