*New Inspector Cast Takes Over Tonight
Date: 3 August 1998
A new cast takes over from tonight, 3 August 1998, in Stephen Daldry's long-running production of J B Priestley's An Inspector Calls at the Garrick Theatre.
The tale of meanness, spite and snobbery delves into the comfortable and complacent world of the well-to-do Birling family who are disturbed during a family celebration by a mysterious police inspector investigating the suicide of a poor local girl who they've all wronged.
The new cast will feature William Gaunt as 'Mr Birling'. Gaunt has appeared in many popular British television series, including the recent Next of Kin with Penelope Keith and No Place Like Home in which he played the long suffering 'Arthur Crabtree'. Philip Whitchurch, who plays 'Inspector Goole', is no stranger to playing police inspectors, being best known for his regular role as 'Chief Inspector Cato' in ITV's The Bill. Other television appearances for Whitchurch have included The Vicar of Dibley and Alan Bleasedale's GBH.
Marjorie Yates, who is the new 'Mrs Birling', was more recent seen on stage in the Donmar Warehouse/ Chichester Festival production of Electra, for which lead Zoë Wanamaker won the Olivier Award for Best Actress. Yates has also appeared on television in Where the Heart Is and Wycliffe.
Also joining the cast are Laurence Kennedy, last seen in Alan Ayckbourn's Communicating Doors, as 'Gerald Croft'; Sara Griffiths, who appeared in the recent national tour of Tartuffe, as 'Sheila Birling'; Tim Steed as 'Eric Birling' and Diana Payne Mayers as 'Edna'.
Daldry's neo-expressionistic reworking of the classic 1946 thriller was first seen at the Royal National Theatre in 1991. It also had seasons at the West End's Aldwych Theatre and on Broadway before transferring to the Garrick in October 1995. An Inspector Calls has won a total of 19 major awards in London and New York.
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