By VICKIE CORNELIUS PHIPPS
A Seat on the Aisle
Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing a dress rehearsal of The Hyperion Players’ current production of J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls, running one weekend through Sept. 15 at the Switch Theatre in Fishers with a talk-back after Saturday’s performance.
Director Nicole Amsler cleverly weaves the fate of the prosperous Birling family through this tragic story of cruelty, thoughtlessness, and privilege.
It is 1912, roughly a week before the sinking of the Titanic, and we see a doll-like suburban house in an English industrial city, where a young girl commits suicide, and an eminently respectable British family is subject to a routine inquiry in connection with the death. An Inspector calls to interrogate the family, and during his questioning all members of the group are implicated in the girl’s undoing.
The imposing Inspector Goole (Josh Elicker) arrives at the home of the well-to-do family finding the celebration of the new engagement of the Birling’s daughter Sheila (Megan Fridenmaker), to Gerald Croft (Vincent Pratt), a business competitor. Elicker brings just the right amount of mysterious authority to compel our attention. During the questioning, Inspector exposes how each member of the Birling family bears some responsibility for driving a young, destitute and pregnant woman to suicide. The compelling story of Eva Smith is played out through a powerful visual art form using over 40 shadow puppets. Director Amsler’s daughter Delaney Amsler, deserves special recognition for conceptualizing, designing, and operating (along with a crew) all the puppets. The puppets are magical and transport you to a desolate time for a class of women who have no choice but to work under deplorable conditions to survive.
Sheila Birling (Megan Fridenmaker) and her mother, Sybil (Jennifer Kaufman) are confronted by Inspector Goole (Josh Elicker) in a scene from The Inspector Calls. (Photo by Rob Slaven / IndyGhostLight.com)
Well-developed characters of an archetypal Edwardian family are threatened as they confront the crisis of their class. Christopher Vojtko plays the patriarch Arthur Birling as the kind of man who believes he knows everything and covets power as his religion. Vojtko’s accent is contrived, and I found it a bit distracting; perhaps he is overcompensating for his youth. Birling sacks Eva Smith from his factory, where she helped to organize an unsuccessful strike for an increase in wages.
The rigidly autocratic Mrs. Sybil Birling (Jennifer Kaufman) persuades the local charity board to deny Eva aid or help of any kind. Ms. Kaufman makes her unsympathetic and ruthless. Sheila (Megan Fridenmaker) is less naïve than she seems to be. Ms. Fridenmaker does a perfect job as the consciousness of this nuclear family. Sheila turns into a reasonable adult woman capable of empathy and able to make difficult choices.
Vincent Pratt is believable and natural as the distinguished Gerald while his engagement comes under increasing strain due to the limitations of his questionable character. Eric (Logan Browning), Sheila’s brother, is a well-meaning but weak individual with passionate conviction as he covers the family secrets through alcoholism. Edna (Lea Ellingwood) performs the key role as the representative working-class maid and there is a twist at the end, folks!
The creative talents responsible for this banquet of senses are: Assistant Director Nicole Crabtree, Stage Manager Leslie Blackwell, Producer Ian Hauer, Master Carpenter, Adam Fike, Costumer Judy McGroarty, Hair & Makeup Designer Katie van den Heuvel, Sound Designer Zach Catlin, Light Operator Hope Oetjen, and Puppeteers Delaney Amsler and Lea Ellingwood.
An Inspector Calls is the first play of Hyperion’s third season. Coming in October is the hair-raising thriller The Women in Black, followed by The 39 Steps in March 2025, and Rocket Man in May 2025.
All performances will be at the Switch Theatre, 10029 E. 126th St., Fishers (located inside Ji-Eun Lee Music). The show runs two hours with one 15-minute intermission: Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with a Sunday matinee at 2:30 p.m. Tickets cost $15 and can be purchased at hyperionplayers.com/tickets, calling (317) 771-8814, or at the door.
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