Rosebud Theatre’s An Inspector Calls: a triple-wrapped mystery

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

An Inspector Calls, a murder mystery set in England in 1912, will open in Rosebud Theatre’s Opera House on Sept. 9.
The cast and crew gathered Aug. 15 for their ‘first read’ – the first time the entire cast reads the script aloud together.
The story of An Inspector Calls opens on the wealthy Birling family, congratulating themselves on the engagement of their daughter to the son of a business rival, setting up a nice little business merger at the same time. Father Arthur Birling declares his conviction that human beings are responsible only to look after themselves, and not each other. Then a police inspector arrives, asking questions about a mysterious death in their small town.
The inspector’s persistent questions lead to the unraveling of a fascinating mystery, but then, just when we think we’re getting to the heart of it, we discover there’s another mystery we haven’t even begun to explore.
Nathan Schmidt plays the inspector. Arthur Birling is played by Troy O’Donnell and Glenda Warkentin plays his wife. Meghan Hanet and Justin Lanouette play their adult children. Andrew Cooper and Cassie Garbutt perform the roles of the fiancé and the maid.
Since this story is set in a time and place that’s far from my home and society, I thought this play would be simply a fun, intriguing escape. An Inspector Calls does give us that – but it also gives us more.
Despite their British accents and formal vocabulary and stiff costumes, these characters could have this conversation in 2016, in any Canadian workplace, in an Albertan neighbourhood, and perhaps around my own dinner table.
It leaves us with a lingering challenge as to whether we’ll truly accept responsibility for other human beings or, as daughter Sheila Birling says, whether we’ll go on in the same old way as before.
Social media gives us the idea that we’re all involved in caring for each other, director Karl H. Sine said, but we’re not. Social justice is a central component of most religions, he reminded us, and we’re here to take care of each other. When people see An Inspector Calls, he said, he hopes people will have their own responsibility reflected back to them.
Though An Inspector Calls was set over 100 years ago, we still struggle with who our brother is, and who matters, said artistic director Morris Ertman. That’s why Karl Sine is directing this show, Ertman noted, because Sine has a heart for this play and for its important question.
I’m eager to see An Inspector Calls in its fully-developed form, with set and costumes, lights and sound, because it’s a great story – but also because I wish I could get closer to the bottom of its unsolvable mystery. Yet perhaps its most important impact on me will be the question I ask myself, and my answer: I believe I am my brother’s keeper, but do my actions reflect that?
An Inspector Calls opens Sept. 9 and runs until Oct. 29 on Rosebud’s Opera House stage. Tickets are available at 1-800-267-7553 or rosebudtheatre.com.