Photo Flash: In Rehearsal with Stephen Daldry's AN INSPECTOR CALLS

Clive Francis (The Crown, Netflix), Barbara Marten (Casualty) and Liam Brennan (Diary of a Madman - winner of a Stage Edinburgh Award) will lead a dynamic cast in the much-anticipated return of Stephen Daldry's multi award-winning production of JB Priestley's An Inspector Calls.

As Clive Francis bursts onto our TV screens in the brand new series of The Crown, also directed by Stephen Daldry (among others), he will concurrently play the intransigent Mr Birling at The Playhouse Theatre. Alongside Barbara Marten and Liam Brennan, he will be joined on stage by Matthew Douglas, Carmela Corbett, Hamish Riddle and Diana Payne-Myers - still treading the boards aged 88.

Clive Francis comments, An Inspector Calls is one of the great classic plays of the 20th century. It premiered in London's west end the year I was born and has now been seen by a whole new generation of theatre goers thanks to Stephen Daldry's brilliant and masterly production. An Inspector Calls is considered one of Priestley's greatest works, and has been subject to a variety of interesting interpretations, none more so than this historic National Theatre revival which I'm delighted to be part of.

This production marks the 70th anniversary of the first UK staging of the play and the 25th anniversary of its first appearance at the National Theatre.

Since 1992, Daldry's production of An Inspector Calls has won a total of 19 major awards, including four Tony Awards and three Olivier Awards, and has played to more than 4 million theatergoers worldwide. An Inspector Calls is the most internationally-lauded production in the National Theatre's history.

JB Priestley's brilliantly constructed masterpiece powerfully dramatises the dangers of casual capitalism's cruelty, complacency and hypocrisy. Stephen Daldry's epic production highlights the play's enduring relevance.

Written at the end of the Second World War and set before the First, An Inspector Calls is a compelling and haunting thriller. The story begins when the mysterious Inspector Goole calls unexpectedly on the prosperous Birling family home. Their peaceful family dinner party is shattered by his investigations into the death of a young woman.

Now world-renowned as one of Britain's leading theatre and film directors, Stephen Daldry has received Academy Award nominations for his films The Reader, The Hours, Billy Elliot and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. His recent West End theatre work includes David Hare's Skylight at the Wyndham's Theatre and Peter Morgan's The Audience at the Apollo Theatre. His multi award-winning production of Billy Elliot The Musical recently closed after 11 incredible years at the Victoria Palace and has now embarked on a national tour.

Featuring Ian MacNeil's ingenious designs, music by Oscar-winning composer Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love) and atmospheric lighting by Rick Fisher, this landmark production is guaranteed to have old fans rushing back and new theatregoers being swept away into the mysterious world of Inspector Goole.

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