Published in The Guardian
The Government Inspector
Tron, Glasgow
4 out of 5
The gag about Barclays bank is not strictly necessary. The modern relevance of Nikolai Gogol's small-town satire has hit us long before the actor's off-the-cuff quip about bankers' bonuses. Such is the atmosphere of venality in Gerry Mulgrew's hilarious Communicado production that, despite the period setting, we are never far away from financial profiteers and expense-fiddling MPs. By the time Andy Clark's Ivan Khlestakov gallops away from the provincial town where he has been profitably mistaken for a government inspector, we have a strong sensation of a society spinning off the rails through its own self-serving greed. His cry of "Where are you racing to, Russia?" – in the late Adrian Mitchell's sparkling translation – today sounds like a premonition of late-capitalist catastrophe.
The punchline of Gogol's play is that Khlestakov is no better than the fawning townsfolk who take him to be an important St Petersburg official. The brilliance of the writing is that he is no worse. He is guilty of opportunism – and what hungry man wouldn't be? – but they are still guiltier, for sustaining a system they know to be corrupt.
Mulgrew's production takes its cue from the frenetic polkas performed by the cast. With the same energy and mismatched community spirit, the ensemble hit a balance between caricature and a sense of emergency. Unembarrassed by their lavish lives, but shocked to be found out, they pull together through raw self-interest.
Leading the rabble is John Bett, on top form as the police governor, switching between smooth-talking complacency and wild panic. He is the authority figure whose bluff has been called, and he's all the funnier for it.
© Mark Fisher 2010
The Government Inspector
Tron, Glasgow
4 out of 5
The gag about Barclays bank is not strictly necessary. The modern relevance of Nikolai Gogol's small-town satire has hit us long before the actor's off-the-cuff quip about bankers' bonuses. Such is the atmosphere of venality in Gerry Mulgrew's hilarious Communicado production that, despite the period setting, we are never far away from financial profiteers and expense-fiddling MPs. By the time Andy Clark's Ivan Khlestakov gallops away from the provincial town where he has been profitably mistaken for a government inspector, we have a strong sensation of a society spinning off the rails through its own self-serving greed. His cry of "Where are you racing to, Russia?" – in the late Adrian Mitchell's sparkling translation – today sounds like a premonition of late-capitalist catastrophe.
The punchline of Gogol's play is that Khlestakov is no better than the fawning townsfolk who take him to be an important St Petersburg official. The brilliance of the writing is that he is no worse. He is guilty of opportunism – and what hungry man wouldn't be? – but they are still guiltier, for sustaining a system they know to be corrupt.
Mulgrew's production takes its cue from the frenetic polkas performed by the cast. With the same energy and mismatched community spirit, the ensemble hit a balance between caricature and a sense of emergency. Unembarrassed by their lavish lives, but shocked to be found out, they pull together through raw self-interest.
Leading the rabble is John Bett, on top form as the police governor, switching between smooth-talking complacency and wild panic. He is the authority figure whose bluff has been called, and he's all the funnier for it.
© Mark Fisher 2010
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