He dresses in a plain dark suit and hat to give feeling of authority and to make both the characters and the audience feel uneasy about his presence. Priestley tells us his appearance gives him an "impression of massiveness". When the play begins all characters except the inspector are seated at a table after having enjoyed a meal to celebrate the engagement of Sheila and Gerald, the maid; Edna, has just cleared the table and is setting out the port and cigars as the curtain goes up.
Throughout the play the three unities of time, place and action are used to great effect by Priestley. Firstly, the play is all in "real-time", at no point in the play do you jump in time and as a member of the audience you feel you are watching the drama of one evening in a 1912 household. Priestley benefits from this as it makes the audience feel much more involved with the play and when watching it you know you aren't missing out on anything and you can share in there shock that the inspector isn't real or that Eric had fathered Eva Smith's child, for example. In terms of the place and location of the play, everything takes place in the same room of the Birling's house, there is only one set and this too is a device used by Priestley. The audience get to know the room and can connect with it well, it also adds to the feeling that you really are just watching an evening in a 1912's house unfold before your eyes without the normal "special-effects", lighting and scene changes that you might normally get on stage or on screen, giving this play a slightly unique quality. In terms of action Presley's method of ending and beginning the acts of this play is interesting. As already mentioned the play is in real-time and so each act follows on from exactly the same point that the last one ended so Priestley instructs the cast to freeze at the end of each act at points of particular excitement to create a strong feeling of suspense, then at the start of the next scene the suspense is relieved by the continuation of the play.