The setting of a play
The setting of a play is the time and location of the story. An Inspector Calls is set in 1912 in Edwardian England. The family are successful middle-class people and at the start of the play, Mr Birling in particular is very complacent. The play was actually written after the Second World War.
Think of some of the things that happened between 1912 and 1946, when the play was first staged. Then read Mr Birling’s speech from early in the play and look for the references to things he thinks will never change but Priestley’s audience would have viewed differently. You should be able to find allusions that the audience would link to the two world wars, the sinking of the Titanic and the Russian Revolution.
And I say there isn’t a chance of war. The world’s developing so fast that it'll make war impossible. Look at the progress we're making … Why, a friend of mine went over this new liner last week - the Titanic - she sails next week - forty-six thousand eight hundred tons - forty-six thousand eight hundred tons - New York in five days - and every luxury - and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.
That's what you've got to keep your eye on, facts like that, progress like that - and not a few German officers talking nonsense and a few scaremongers here making a fuss about nothing… In twenty or thirty years' time - let's say, in 1940… There'll be peace and prosperity and rapid progress everywhere - except of course in Russia, which will always be behind naturally.
Mr Birling insists that nothing will change or go wrong in his world. The 1940s audience knew he was wrong. The audience at any time know that such mistaken confidence is likely to be his undoing. The audience know more than the characters do themselves. This is a very satisfying device known as dramatic irony.
