page_title: The Government Inspector
section_title: Theatre
hierarchical_section_title: The Government Inspector / Other adaptations / Theatre
caption_attribution_description: English: Fyodor Paramonov as Anton Antonovich in Gogol's The Inspector-General (Maly Theatre (Moscow), 1905) Русский: Ф. А. Парамонов в роли Городничего в «Ревизоре» (Малый театр).
context_page_description: The Government Inspector, also known as The Inspector General, is a satirical play by the Russian and Ukrainian dramatist and novelist Nikolai Gogol. Originally published in 1836, the play was revised for an 1842 edition. Based upon an anecdote allegedly recounted to Gogol by Pushkin, the play is a comedy of errors, satirizing human greed, stupidity, and the extensive political corruption of Imperial Russia.
  The dream-like scenes of the play, often mirroring each other, whirl in the endless vertigo of self-deception around the main character, Khlestakov, who personifies irresponsibility, light-mindedness, absence of measure. "He is full of meaningless movement and meaningless fermentation incarnate, on a foundation of placidly ambitious inferiority". The publication of the play led to a great outcry in the reactionary press. It took the personal intervention of Tsar Nicholas I to have the play staged, with Mikhail Shchepkin taking the role of the Mayor.
  According to D. S. Mirsky, The Government Inspector "is not only supreme in character and dialogue – it is one of the few Russian plays constructed with unerring art from beginning to end.
context_section_description: Fyodor Dostoyevsky played the postmaster Shpekin in a charity performance with proceeds going to the Society for Aid to Needy Writers and Scholars in April 1860.
  Inspecting Carol (1991) by American playwright Daniel J. Sullivan is a loose adaptation in which a man auditioning for a role in A Christmas Carol at a small theatre is mistaken for an informer for the National Endowment for the Arts.
  In 2005, the Chichester Festival Theatre produced a new version of the play translated by Alistair Beaton.
  The UN Inspector (2005) by David Farr is a "freely adapted" version written for London's National Theatre called, which transposed the action to a modern-day ex-Soviet republic. Farr's adaptation has been translated into French by Nathalie Rivere de Carles and was performed in France in 2008.
  In 2006, Greene Shoots Theatre performed an ensemble-style adaptation at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Directed by Steph Gunary (née Kirton), the acting used physical theatre, mime, and chorus work that underpinned the physical comedy. The application of Commedia dell'arte-style characterisation both heightened the grotesque and sharpened the satire.
  In 2008, Jeffrey Hatcher adapted the play for a summer run at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. A slightly revised version of that adaptation played at Milwaukee Repertory Theater in September 2009.
  In 2011, London's Young Vic Theatre presents a new version adapted by David Harrower, directed by Richard Jones, starring Julian Barratt, Doon Mackichan and Kyle Soller.
  In 2011 the Stockholm City Theatre staged the play in an adaptation set in the Soviet 1930s.
  In 2011 the Abbey Theatre, Dublin performed an adaptation by Roddy Doyle.
  Also in 2012 the Residenz Theatre in Munich performed an adaptation by Herbert Fritsch with Sebastian Blomberg as Khlestakov.
  Currently at the Yermolovoi Theater in Moscow there is a staging by Sergei Zimliansky without words.  The show is advertised as a comedy, in which music, costumes, dance, and movement by the actors tells the story in the absence of words.
  The play was also revived by the Birmingham Repertory Theatre for a UK Tour in 2016 directed by Roxana Silbert. It toured New Wolsey Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Nottingham Playhouse, Liverpool Everyman and Sheffield Crucible. This production was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award in Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre in the 2017 ceremony.
caption: Anton Antonovich, played by Fyodor Paramonov, has many reasons to be worried about a visit from the inspector general (Maly Theatre (Moscow), 1905.
exif: {}