A rich family, Birlings, sit down to celebrate the engagement of their daughter to a rich young man in the city. The overall atmosphere is jovial. Suddenly, a mysterious police inspector arrives with shocking news. A girl of the working class died at the local infirmary. Suicide, of course, but there are more ...
What is the implication of the Birlings in the life of this unfortunate woman? Would she have been saved? Who is really guilty of his death?
The piece, request an inspector was conducted in 1945 as the bloodiest war the world of all time coming to an end. A world recovery was desperate to know, how could this have been allowed to happen? And above all, how could he be stopped from happening again.
J. B. Priestley, a native of northern England, blamed the rich for major mistakes and bad policy decisions in recent history. Those in positions of privilege, for business owners, for example, idle rich, government itself, had to take responsibility for the less fortunate: a message that no doubt resonated with wounded veterans returning from combat. The Labour government of 1945 -. 1951 set up the National Health Service (NHS) and started to pay unemployment and disability benefits is considered by many as the best British government of the twentieth century
And the world a better place now? Well, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that there were nearly one billion under or malnourished people in the world in 2010. Thousands die in the world every day due to causes linked to poverty. There are currently ten "official" wars / conflicts going on in the world today that result in more than 1,000 deaths a year. What should be our response?
Priestley put her story in 1912, in the week before the Titanic set sail, the Halcyon days when the privileged position went largely unchallenged. A hundred years later, some would say has changed; some would say the opposite. We have better "things" now. Technology has changed our lives, but our hearts were turned?
As I reflected on these questions while working with the actors, I thought originally the Birlings were bad people, ignorant of the world around them. But directing is an evolutionary process. I was beginning to wonder if Birlings were very different from you or I. And if Birlings have to change, you and I have to change too?
An Inspector Calls
May 31 - 19h30
June 1 - 15:00 19:30
June 2 - 15:00
Tickets available at : jak.tickets@yahoo.com
ticket price: Rp.150.000, - Students: Rp.100.000, -