An Inspector Calls by J B Priestley

Social and Historical Context In your coursework essay you will be required to refer to the background to this play and to Priestley himself. Make notes as the PowerPoint progresses…..

J B Priestley

Biography Born 13 th September 1894 died 14 th August Mother died in they year he was born. Left school at 16 ‘to write’ and began work in 1910 as a junior clerk at a wool firm. Priestley stated that it was the period that ‘set their stamp upon me’ (the time before the first world war).

Biography Priestley surrounded himself with ‘people who read a great deal, cared a lot for the arts and preferred real talk and hot argument to social chit chat’. He found himself having political discussions with his father’s socialist friends.

Socialism What is socialism?

Socialist principles “The establishment of a system of society based upon the common ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth by and in the interest of the whole community.” The Socialist party of Great Britain.

Back to Priestley… World war one broke out in Priestley joined the infantry at age 20. He left the army in 1919 after seeing active front line service in France. He narrowly escaped being killed when a German shell exploded near him and was the victim of a gas attack. His experiences in the war affected his writing; “I was lucky in that war and never ceased to be aware of the fact.”

After the war… Priestley took a degree in Modern History and Political Science at Cambridge University. In 1921 he completed his degree, married and left for London with his wife. He began his writing career with essays and achieved success with novels and plays

His work With the outbreak of WW2 in 1939, Priestley continued writing and worked for BBC radio. However, his programmes were cancelled by the British Government for being too critical of their actions in the war. The play, An Inspector Calls was written in 1945.

An Inspector Calls Was set in 1912 (before WW1) and first performed in London in A thriller, An Inspector Calls has been running in theatres ever since….

The Theatre Before WW2 theatres were very popular. Since the introduction of cinemas, theatres had been competing with musicals with lavish sets, costumes and budgets. With the coming of WW2, theatres opened and closed erratically due to air raids. Performances were relocated to the North or the Midlands. By 1944 the Old Vic Theatre Company had returned to London and the play was first staged in 1946.

The Play itself…..

The Play itself… A straightforward detective thriller……....or is it?