JB Priestley’s An Inspector Calls—deserves a re-read right now

I first experienced this work as a stage production—directed by Stephen Daldry 😍—20+ years ago in London. I come back to the text from time to time, and with each, it gets richer, often speaking to our social moment in some new way.

The work is probably best known for its social justice, feminist, and worker’s rights themes. Each of which remains sadly relevant still, especially in a global context. I’ve sometimes seen An Inspector Calls as a notch on the measure of social progress—against which we can measure how far, or not, we are evolving.

But in my most recent reading, it was the spirit of interdependence that really struck me.

The Inspector lectures the Birlings, “[we are] all intertwined with our lives, and what we think and say and do …. We are responsible for each other.” I can’t help but think he’s speaking to us, too.

Is this work a touchstone for anyone else out there?