Theatre 40’s ‘An Inspector Calls’ at Greystone Mansion Offers an Immersive, Powerful Lesson

Theatre 40’s An Inspector Calls arrives at Greystone Mansion with the equanimity of a production that already knows exactly what it is and how well it works. Fresh off a successful run at the company’s Moreno Drive home, this elegant staging of J.B. Priestley’s moral thriller proves just as gripping in its new, more atmospheric surroundings. Directed with precision and momentum by Cate Caplin, the production runs through January 18th, and offers audiences a taut, richly performed piece that timelessly resonates with its profound lessons.

Greystone Mansion, of course, is no stranger to drama. For years it has been the evocative home of The Manor, a site-specific favorite that taught local audiences just how powerfully architecture can amplify storytelling. While An Inspector Calls does not attempt that same kind of immersive sprawl, its placement within the mansion’s living room lends the account a subtle, welcome charge. The setting feels as apropos as it gets given the play’s setting, framing the tensions with an added layer of gravitas. One senses immediately that this is a story about appearances, about respectable surfaces concealing uncomfortable truths — and Greystone’s stately elegance proves an eloquent partner in that illusion.

Written in 1945 and first performed in 1946, An Inspector Calls remains one of J.B. Priestley’s most enduring and incisive works. Priestley, a prolific British novelist, playwright, and social commentator, had a keen instinct for blending entertainment with moral inquiry, and this play may be his most cogently constructed argument for collective responsibility.

The 1912-based premise, occurring in the fictional town of Brumley, England, is deceptively simple. The prosperous Birling family is gathered to celebrate the engagement between Sheila Birling, daughter to local magnate Arthur Birling, and Gerald Croft, son of Birling’s competitor. As soon as Mr. Birling, also a public official, condescendingly dismisses the notion that we might all be “mixed up together like bees in a hive — community and all that nonsense,” in saunters the extraordinary, assertively imposing, but just as well-mannered Inspector Goole. She (a twist on this part normally being played by a man) informs that a young woman, Eva Smith, died in an infirmary after swallowing disinfectant in a suspected suicide. We initially learn that Smith worked in Mr. Birling’s factory but was discharged two years ago when it was uncovered that she was among the ring leaders who protested Mr. Birling’s refusal of a small pay increase. Soon, through the Inspector’s poised lines of inquiry, oftentimes accompanied by the showing of a photo to only one family member at a time, the audience discovers that everyone in this house may have been mysteriously connected to the same lady, known first as Eva Smith and later as Daisy Renton after she changed her name to improve her job prospects. As the evening progresses, the family’s polished civility crumbles into defensiveness, rationalization, and eventually outright panic.

Caplin, who also directed Theatre 40’s highly memorable comedy called Becky’s New Car in the spring of 2025, once again demonstrates her knack for pacing and tonal control. She has a particular gift for keeping dialogue-driven plays focused and alert, and here she ensures that Priestley’s carefully measured revelations land with clarity rather than heaviness. The production never rushes, but it also never sags; each new disclosure feels like a deliberate turn of the screw within the chain of events that asks profound questions about social responsibility.

At the center of the evening is Mouchette Van Helsdingen’s fashionably calibrated Inspector Goole, a performance built less on bluster than on calm authority. She enters without fanfare and gradually becomes the gravitational force of the room, guiding the narrative with calm persistence and an unnerving moral certitude. There is something almost surgical about her approach: she doesn’t accuse so much as invite confession, and the results are often more devastating.

Around her, the Birling family is drawn in sharply etched contrasts. David Hunt Stafford’s Arthur Birling embodies smug self-assurance and outrage against a “scandal” with just enough earned indignation to make his evasions highly credible, but no less infuriating, rather than cartoonish. The seasoned Diana Angelina brings a brittle, socially conditioned chill to Sybil Birling, a woman whose delusional certainty in her own curated reality and righteousness proves as destructive as any overt cruelty. Isaac W. Jay’s Gerald Croft is all polished charm on the surface, but his gradual unravelling, and the guilt palpably couched within, is handled with a compelling mix of regret and self-preservation.

Katyana Rocker-Cook gives Sheila Birling one of the production’s most satisfying arcs, charting her evolution from thoughtless privilege to something approaching a moral epiphany with a light but steady hand. Monty Renfrow’s Eric Birling, meanwhile, carries the anxious, alcohol-fueled, self-destructive weight of someone who knows he has already failed before the evening truly begins. His performance, which peaks with climactic tears and a flushed facial redness, feels visceral, never losing its unapologetic rawness.

The figure who haunts all of them, of course, is Eva Smith. Though she exists mostly as a wafting apparition in memory and testimony, Isabella DiBernardino’s presence gives her a specificity that breathtakingly lingers, while Quinn Ruby DeVries’s observant Edna, the maid, stands alone as the only inculpable person inside the Birling residence.

Behind the scenes, the design team provides a clean, period-appropriate frame that supports rather than competes with the performances. Jeff G. Rack’s scenic design harnesses the historic appeal of the Greystone grounds, with a beautifully crafted antique sofa and two matching upholstered chairs as the centerpieces. Similarly, Derrick McDaniel’s lighting, represented by two fixtures at opposite ends facing the stage, shifts the mood as the night’s stakes rise and the unjustness that had befallen the innocent Eva haunts the room. Nick Foran’s sound design and Michael Mullen’s costumes reinforce both period and psychology without drawing attention to themselves. Judi Lewin’s hair, wig, and makeup work completes the illusion with understated efficiency.

Priestley’s work acts as a sharp moral exploration of collectivism over individualism, showing how even small, thoughtless acts of indifference can chain together into tragic harm. The Birling family’s confessions, and their import, underscore that we are all interconnected — not just isolated individuals chasing personal goals but accountable individuals comprising a singular oneness. Even if the young woman’s suicide turns out differently, or the revelations come forth inside a different context, the family is still blameworthy, albeit at varying degrees of causality, highlighting the danger of willful obliviousness and the need for honesty, especially with ourselves. Consciences often expose us before any inspector does. As events build to the final chilling phone call, the audience is left unsettled with queries worth critically processing.

What ultimately makes this production so effective is that Caplin understands that the play works best not as a lecture, but as a steadily tightening trap, girded by its restraint, until there are mirrors on all sides of not just the characters but the audience members watching them and themselves.

For those who have experienced theatrical outings at Greystone before — especially through The Manor — there’s a particular pleasure in seeing the space used in a more traditional but still resonant way. In a culture still wrestling with reflections on responsibility, consequence, and the cost of looking away, Priestley’s play remains disarmingly relevant. Theatre 40’s interpretation honors that legacy with intelligence and craft. Whether you come for the intrigue, the performances, or the pleasure of spending a few hours inside one of Beverly Hills’ most storied spaces, An Inspector Calls is a rewarding, thought-provoking experience.

Cover image caption: Left to right are David Hunt Stafford and Mouchette van Helsdingen in Theatre 40’s production of An Inspector Calls in Beverly Hills, CA. Photo is by Gabriel Tejeda-Benitez.

Theatre 40’s production of An Inspector Calls runs through Sunday, January 18th at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit theatre40.org.