The UN Inspector

Synopsis

Adapted from Gogol's Russian satire The Government Inspector. A British businessman is spotted at the Marriott by government aides who mistake him for the dreaded UN inspector. Presidential panic ensues as ex-Soviet ministers try to cover up the corruption that lies at the State's core.

Our Review:

17 June 2005

There must be something in the waters at present that is making Nikolai Gogol's The Government the flavour of the month. With two productions following hard on each other – this David Farr adaptation at the National will be followed in a couple of weeks by Alistair Beaton's at Chichester - it can't just be its satire on provincial corruption that can reap hilariously rich rewards. There's something more going on here, even if Farr's liberty-taking modern update tends to re-emphasise the play's dubious distinction to being little more than a star vehicle.

Certainly Michael Sheen's charismatic performance as a latter-day south London estate agent - financially caught short whilst ferreting around for cheap pickings in post-communist eastern Europe where he’s mistaken for a high-ranking government official, in this case a UN Inspector - strikes all kinds of common chords.

As Martin Remington Gammon (as Farr has renamed Gogol's original, Khlestakov), putative b...

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Latest User Review

80.177.231.164) - 7 September 2005:

Not worthy of the National. Wonderful actors wasted on poor writing. Also, much much too long. ...

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