GCSE English Literature

J B Priestleys An Inspector Calls

STAGE DIRECTIONS
An important aspect of any stage play is the playwrights stage directions.
These are instructions written to help the plays producers and actors. They give
guidance on the use of stage properties (i.e. props), setting, lighting and
sound as well as ways to act and speak the lines. Priestley uses a lot of detailed
and very precise stage directions, especially at the beginning of the play. When
you analyse and explain your response to the play in your essays and exam
answers, be sure to discuss these stage directions but do remember that the
audience are completely unaware of them in the sense that they never read the
they only see and hear the effects of them. Your task is to consider WHY
Priestley included them, that is, what purposes they achieve.
These purposes will include the need to make the play engaging and
absorbing, and also to help Priestley develop his themes.
Fill in the boxes below with some notes of your own, explaining what effect the
stage direction likely has on the audience and Priestleys likely purposes for
including it.

What are the likely intended effects on the audience of

the following stage directions and why might they
have been included by Priestley?
Uses of
props

Uses of
costumes

Uses of
lighting

Appearance
and speech
quality of
actors