J. B. Priestley

Priestley: An Inspector Calls

In this course, Professor Graham Saunders (University of Birmingham) explores J. B. Priestley’s 1946 play, An Inspector Calls. In the first lecture, we think about the figure of J. B. Priestley himself. After that, in the second lecture, we think about the historical, cultural and theatrical background to the play, before turning in the third lecture to four key themes in the play: family, time, class and politics. In the fourth and fifth lectures, we go through the play in a more detail, before turning in the sixth and seventh lectures to consider three productions of the play: the original theatre production at the Old Vic (1946), Guy Hamilton’s film version of the play (1951), and Stephen Daldry’s revival of the play (1992).

J. B. Priestley

In this lecture, we think about the figure of J. B. Priestley himself, focusing in particular on: (i) his upbringing and early life; (ii) his service in the First World War; (iii) his time at Cambridge, where he studied English Literature; (iv) his work as a novelist and a dramatist, and the popularity of many of his works, not just An Inspector Calls; (v) his reputation as both a populist dramatist (like Noel Coward) and political dramatist (like Bertolt Brecht); (vi) his socialist beliefs, and the rise of socialism more generally at the beginning of the twentieth century.