An Inspector Calls at Warwick Academy!

Taking to the stage in preparations for their GCSE exams are 25 students at Warwick Academy. The actors open tonight with Stephen Daldry's `An Inspector Calls', and will perform again tomorrow night and Saturday.

An exciting project for students at Warwick Academy, the original cast of seven actors has been enlarged to twenty five. This is in keeping with the revival of the play in London in 1992. The principals are fourth and fifth year GCSE drama students, five of whom were in the highly acclaimed production of Cabaret last year.

The play is especially interesting at this time as it deals with the causes of war. It was written at the end of the Second World War and set at the beginning of the First World War and the current world political situation would seem to make the play especially pertinent. The play opens with the engagement party of Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft (son of Sir George Croft) in the imaginary city of Brumley in the north of England. Mr Birling, Sheila's father, is a pompous, self-important `hard-headed, practical man of business'. He owns a local factory and hopes for a knighthood. His wife, Mrs Birling, is of a higher class and is delighted that her daughter's marriage will elevate the family's status. The Birlings' son Eric is a wastrel and a drunkard. Into this family gathering arrives a mysterious police inspector; he is investigating the death of a destitute girl who has committed suicide by swallowing disinfectant. Under the pressure of Inspector Goole's interrogation, every member of the group turns out to have a shameful secret which links them with her death.

Students have been working on the production since November of last year.

An elaborate set has been constructed featuring a life sized dolls' house and a blitz street scene. The production uses a thrust stage which projects right out into the centre of the audience. Cast and staff have spent months scouring Bermuda for authentic props and costumes from 1912 and 1945 (the play is set in two time periods). An Edwardian lamppost proved elusive and was eventually constructed from drain pipes and papier mache.

Performances start at 7.30 p.m. each evening in the school's main hall. Tickets are $10 adults and $5 children and are available from the school front office.