Coachloads of teenagers filled the theatre for the first night of this epic revival of the J B Priestley classic.

Once merely a gentle drawing room mystery play done to death by rep companies and amateurs, it got a whole new lease of life when director Stephen Daldry got his hands on it in 1992.

His conception of the restaging of the piece was revolutionary and it went on to scoop more awards than any other play in the history of British theatre, to have five London runs and is now on its 7th UK tour.

It is set in the industrial Midlands town of Brumley in 1912 where affluent mill owner Arthur Birling and his wife Sybil are celebrating the engagement of their daughter Sheila to toff Gerald Croft.

Their jollity comes to an end when Inspector Goole arrives to investigate the reasons behind the hideous suicide of a young girl and gradually reveals that each member of the family must shoulder some blame for her tragic end.

This is a monumental piece of theatre: a morality play in which the inspector begs for a change in the attitudes of the upper, privileged class to which the Birlings belong. Fire and damnation will be the result if they do not heed his message, he warns.

It is dramatic and thought-provoking: both reasons why the play is now a National Curriculum staple. And it's a mesmerising coup de theatre when the doll's house the Birlings inhabit – their ivory tower on stilts above the filthy common people – crashes down around their ears.

Set and sound effects are wonderful, the atmosphere of menace and impending doom heightened by dim lighting, lashing rain and silent watchers representing future generations who will suffer.

Louis Hilyer's Goole grows in stature as the play progresses and his grip on the Birling family tightens, beginning as a bit of an annoying mosquito and ending up with all the power of an Old Testament prophet as he addresses the audience face to face.

Sandra Duncan is a magnificent Sybil Birling, a galleon in full sail until she is wrecked on the rocks of Goole's revelations and left literally sprawling in the gutter.

I also liked Marianne Oldham and Robin Whiting as the Birling children Sheila and Eric, who finally do get Goole's urgent message. Who is Goole? That is for each and every one of us to decide.

Unmissable and unforgettable.

Diana Eccleston

5 stars