‘An Inspector Calls’ is the work of J.B. Priestley, the social critic. In this play he first shows us a picture of middle class prosperity and apparent respectability and then reveals the rottenness behind the facade.
As the play unfolds, we see the effect that the Inspector has on the two different generations; the old are too rigid in their attitudes to learn any lessons and hope for the future lies with the young.
Plays that combine social criticism with theatrical excitement are rare and this combination accounts for its widespread appeal, being first produced in the summer of 1945 in Moscow and then at the Old Vic in London and afterwards in Paris and New York.