The Government Inspector

Synopsis

Scathing satire on bureaucracy and corruption. A great comedy that looks at the lengths petty officials will go to cover their inefficiency and minor crimes when a government inspector comes to call. First produced in 1836. In a small town at the back of nowhere corruption's rife and the Mayor and his cronies have got it made. Then they learn they're going to be subject to an undercover government inspection - and panic. Mistaking a penniless nobody for the inspector they swiftly fall victims to their own stupidity and greed.

Our Review:

1 July 2005

It’s hard to imagine what world Alistair Beaton’s new translation of Gogol’s comic classic is talking about. Of course, it’s about 19th-century Russia, but in a world where profits come before patients, where mail is routinely opened and where the director of education wails “God save us from a career in education”, there are some stark parallels with today’s world. It’s a parallel that’s not accidental - Beaton is a master satirist and the absurdities of Gogol’s world are an obvious attraction.

Beaton’s racy translation zips along but perhaps it’s too mired in the modern world. What’s really missing from director Martin Duncan’s vision for the play is the dreaded bureaucracy of Czarist Russia. This, after all, is a world peopled by secret police, where anyone could disappear. And what’s so chilling about Gogol’s play is the undeniable logic of the townsfolk’s actions. There really is a government inspector in the region, why shouldn’t he be this articulate and well-educated...

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Latest User Review

81.86.106.82) - 3 August 2005:

a strange evening not really very funny and what were the lepers from Ben Hur doing running accross the stage? i think the house style is becoming a little ludicrous...

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