Act 1

The Birlings have just eaten dessert. They are “celebrating a special occasion” and are “pleased with themselves.”

Before the Inspector enters, the lighting is "pink and intimate". The lighting creates a light, familiar atmosphere for the audience to enjoy and relate to. This atmosphere reflects the mood of the Birlings as they are enjoying a 'quiet' celebration of the engagement of Gerald and Sheila. At the beginning, in the stage directions, it also says that the effect is "substantial and heavily comfortable, but not cosy and homelike". This suggests that on the exterior the family may look peaceful and like a normal, upper-class family, but little do the 1946 audience know that the Inspector is going to reveal the hidden truths and hypocrisies of each character. This shows us that Priestley is foreshadowing the great dramatic change about to occur in the play. In other words, Priestley successfully hints that the Inspector will dramatically change the lightweight mood of the play. This 'light' tone of the play could be taken in a sense that the tone of the family is easily disturbed, in this case, by the Inspector. This idea is again presented when the Inspector enquires each character and they easily give away their guilt regarding the case of Eva Smith. For example, when the name Daisy Renton (Eva Smith) is mentioned, Gerald immediately discloses his identification of the girl as he is "startled" at hearing the name. From this you can determine that Gerald is disturbed and clearly out of his comfort zone after hearing the name, Daisy Renton.