Who killed Eva Smith? The mystery that is revealed in “An inspector has arrived”, the new work of the British Theater

Eva Smith had many faces and many names, but none of them were hers. She tried to manage as she could, but she always ran into walls that appeared to her in the form of lustful men ready to make her lover, or conservative ladies ready to turn their backs on her for being poor and pregnant. Or even worse, for being beautiful.

His death is known after Goole rings the bell of the wealthy Birling in “An inspector has arrived”which opens tomorrow Saturday at the british theater. According to the police officer, who showed up in the middle of an event at the residence, Smith did not survive the deadly cocktail he drank and died at the hospital. Nobody seems to care, until they see the picture of him. Everyone knows her. So who killed her?

The show takes place in the mansion room, a place that the author of the work J.B. Priestley knew perfectly. The English playwright was a member of the upper class and decided to portray the intricacies of his peers after fighting in the trenches and being gassed during the First World War. “The references to that conflict are present, but not to reflect on it, but to raise a sensitivity that Priestley acquired by surviving the war,” explains the director of the staging, Roberto Angeles.

There are also phrases that seem taken from Marx’s “Communist Manifesto” which are combined with a suspenseful plot. A police ‘thriller’ with didactic theatre. “There is a bit of Christie Agatha. As the scenes progress, the viewer will discover the level of commitment of the characters with the death of Eva Smith”, says Ángeles.

But there is a detail that could go unnoticed: the presence of the inspector does not make sense because there is no crime. Eva Smith committed suicide. “Goole is not real, it is absurd,” adds Ángeles. What he really investigates is the supposed responsibility of the characters, how they collaborated so that Smith took his own life. What Priestley emphasizes is the light attitude; not the deliberate one, not the malice. For him, what kills is acting lightly.

True to its time, from the late 1940s, “An Inspector Has Arrived” –which According to Ángeles, he first set up the Histrión group, and then Osvaldo Cattone with Carlos Gassols in the leading role– shows the clash between communism and capitalism. Some phrases prove it: “There is no freedom if a person cannot get a job” vs. “If I give money to everyone who asks for it, everything would be chaos.” And it becomes clear that the Birlings are guilty of the death of Eva Smith, despite the fact that no one murdered her. “The head of the family believes that she lives in a free country and advises her children based on that. Goole comes to show them that this freedom does not take others into consideration, especially when it comes to people of humble condition.

And when the work appears to be a pamphlet, JB Priestley introduces the question: is the inspector real or is it a trick of the mind? The news reassures mom and dad Birling. They are innocent, finally. Their children, on the other hand, do feel guilty. In a world where people strive to exercise their freedom without regard for others, they are willing to take responsibility.