Entering the World of the Play

In previous lessons, students prepared to read An Inspector Calls by reflecting on the tension between the individual and the society in which our identities are formed, and by looking at the historical context relevant to the play. This pre-reading exploration not only allowed them to consider the role that societal institutions, social categories and social values play in shaping who we are and our opportunities, but also gave them a solid foundation from which to understand the two contexts of the play: when it was written and when it was set.

As students read through the play in the following lessons, they will connect their examination of the individual and society, and the historical context, to the characters and setting of An Inspector Calls. Literary critic Wayne C. Booth writes that the plots of great stories ‘are built out of the characters’ efforts to face moral choices. In tracing those efforts, we readers stretch our own capacities for thinking about how life should be lived.’ ¹ In order to understand the moral choices depicted in An Inspector Calls, we must first look at both the identities of those making moral choices and the context in which they are made. In other words, we must start by examining character and setting, and thinking about how the characters fit into and navigate the world in which they exist. Such exploration not only enables us to better understand the choices that they make in the play, it also paves the way for self-reflection: we are given the tools to reflect on ourselves as individuals and the impact our choices have on others in society. 

Before students begin reading the play, they will reflect on what they have learnt in previous lessons about Priestley and the time period, and then examine the book cover and text features to make predictions about what they think the play will be about. This two-part lesson will also introduce students to inferencing and annotation, and students will have the opportunity to work in groups and do some drama work using the script. Drama activities, in which students adopt the voice and perspective of a character, are useful in encouraging students to push themselves beyond their own experiences and to empathise with others. Finally, students will consider the symbolic significance of props, and by so doing, will think about how certain characteristics manifest themselves and what they suggest about our experiences and values.

The activities in this lesson refer to pages 1–5 of the Heinemann edition of An Inspector Calls.

• 1Wayne C. Booth, The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), 187.

Before teaching this lesson, please review the following information to help guide your preparation process.

Activity 1 Predict the Play's Plot

• Explain to students that today they will be reading the opening of the play, after having made predictions about its content. 
• Hand out the playbooks and guide the students through the first step, ‘Students Study the Cover’, of the Introducing a New Book teaching strategy. Ask students to examine the cover of their books and then in their journals, record associations that come to mind either from the words in the title or the cover illustration. 
• Then, based on the information on the cover, have pairs or small groups of students discuss the following questions:
  • What do you see on the play’s cover? Make a list.
  • What do these details suggest about the play? 
  • Based on what you see so far, what questions do you have about the play?
• Next, allow students five minutes to flip through the interior of the book, recording notes on what they find. You might want to highlight specific features, such as the table of contents, character list, glossary or index, or you might wait to see what students first discover on their own. Prompts for this step include: 
  • What do you notice inside the book? How is it organised? 
  • What words or ideas stand out to you? 
  • What does your investigation tell you about the book? 
  • Based on what you see so far, what questions do you have about the book?
• Next, ask each student to make two predictions about the play. Encourage them to use their ideas from the Introducing a New Book activity and from what they learnt in the previous lessons about the context of Edwardian England, and about Priestley himself. You can provide them with the following prompts to focus their predictions if desired:
  • Describe one of the characters (their personality/interests/role) you think will feature in the play
  • Write down one thing that you think will happen in the play
  • Write your predicted plot of the play in one sentence
• If there is time, you might ask several students to share their predictions with the class.

Activity 2 Read Aloud and Annotate the Stage Directions

• Explain to students that they will now read and annotate the stage directions on pages 1–2 so that they can better understand the setting of the play. It can be useful for students to read the text without the definitions of any challenging vocabulary as it enables them to practise unlocking the meaning of words from the context in which they are found.
• If students do not write in their copies of the play, ensure that each student has their own copy of the stage directions on a piece of paper which has enough space for them to annotate and write on. 
• First, read the stage directions out loud to the class.
• Next, read the stage directions a second time using a ‘think aloud’ strategy to model your thinking. Here, the teacher reads aloud and selects places to pause and make their thinking ‘visible’ to the class. You could, for example, pause at a challenging word and talk through how you try to uncover the meaning using context clues in the sentence, or model rereading a difficult sentence to show how rereading boosts comprehension. Finally, you can also pause to ask a question of the text or make a prediction about what might happen later in the play. These are all important reading strategies and it benefits students when the teacher names them and models how they are used to boost comprehension.
• Project an example annotation on the board or model doing your own, explaining your thinking. You may wish to refer to ideas contained in the Annotating and Paraphrasing Sources teaching strategy. 
• Next, direct the students to independently annotate the first paragraph of the stage directions, projecting the following prompts on the board:
  • Circle or underline keywords.
  • Put a question mark by ideas you don’t understand or find puzzling.
  • Summarise key ideas: Does this make sense? What does this say? What does this mean?
  • Write phrases or sentences that express your reactions and interpretations.
  • Consider the author’s intentions.
  • Next, ask students to share their annotations with a partner, explaining what they circled, questioned, and commented on. Then have students annotate the second paragraph in pairs.

Activity 3 Reflect on the Setting

Finally, have pairs of students combine into groups of four to discuss the following questions in groups. Circulate during their discussions to check their comprehension and help clear up any misconceptions by posing questions that direct them back into their texts. 

• What clues does the setting give us about the Birlings’ lifestyle and social position? 
• What clues does the setting give us about the Birlings’ values?
• How does the world in which we live impact our values?

Activity 1 Reflect on the Symbolism of Objects

• Explain to students that they will be using props when reading the play as a class. All of the characters have props that symbolically represent their identity, and when a student plays a character, they will be given that specific prop. You may choose to show the students the different props that represent the different characters, but do not explain their significance.
• To help students understand and engage with objects on a symbolic level, project the following prompts and ask students to explore them in a journal reflection:

  Someone who is hard for others to understand might be symbolically represented by a padlocked book, whilst someone who is caring and compassionate might be symbolically represented by a blanket.

  • What object do you think reflects who you are? What makes you say that?
  • What object might a member of your family or a friend view you as? Explain your answers.
• Before having students apply the Think, Pair, Share strategy with a partner, acknowledge that it can be hard to share our ideas with others, and then model risk-taking by sharing something from your journal reflection about names with the class.

Activity 2 Predict the Opening Scene

• To assist students in grappling with the vocabulary they encounter, you can introduce it to them beforehand in the form of a word scramble and prediction-based exercise.
• Project or write the following words on the board and ask students to select five words and use them to predict what might happen in the next section of the play:
  • Port (n.) – a strong, sweet and dark red wine from Portugal, often drunk after a meal
  • Drawing-room (n.) – a large room in a house where people sit and entertain (a modern-day living room)
  • Gaily (adv.) – in a cheerful or light-hearted way
  • Mock (adj.) – not real or authentic (pretending)
  • Aggressiveness (n.) – angry or violent behaviour
  • Reproachfully (adv.) – in a way that expresses criticism
  • Guffaws (v.) – to laugh heartily and loudly
  • Squiffy (adj.) – to be tipsy or drunk (informal)
  • Frankly (adv.) – in a manner that is open, honest and direct 
  • Rivals (n.) – people who are competing for the same thing or in the same area
• Give students five minutes to write before inviting a few of them to share their predictions with the class. The class can then vote on whose prediction they think might be the closest.

Activity 3 Read the Play as a Class

• Explain to students that they will be reading the start of the play in two ways: first, as a class, and then in groups to give each student the opportunity to voice a character.
• Assign five students different reading parts and their relevant props, and ask those reading to assemble at the front of the classroom where they can sit in a semicircle. You will need students for the following roles: Birling, Gerald, Sheila, Mrs Birling, and Eric.
• Read the section from Mr Birling ‘Giving us the port, Edna?’ (top of p. 2) to the middle of Mrs Birling’s speech, ‘That was clever of you, Gerald’ (bottom of p. 5). Encourage characters to wear or display their props while reading.
• If time allows, you might include some processing questions here. You could, for example, ask the class to imagine themselves as directors and consider the following questions:
  • What do you understand about their characters from these opening lines? 
  • How should the characters sound? What makes you say that? 
  • What’s their body language? What clues lie in the stage directions?
• Let the class know they will be rereading this section, and then challenge the groups to apply these tips in their group read-throughs.

Activity 4 Reread the Opening Scene in Small Groups

• Next, divide students into groups of five to reread the same section. Encourage your students to embody the characters and take cues from the stage directions. If there is time and it is possible, rearrange the room to give your students acting space.
• Finally, ask students to select one word to summarise what they think or feel about the play so far, and to share it in a wraparound.