The Government Inspector Review

Our guest columnist, Sheri, went to the Shakesphere theather to review their latest play. Check out our The Government Inspector review:

Nikolai Gogol’s The Government Inspector has been extended at the Lansburgh Theatre until November 4, either because the cast is having such a good time together that they couldn’t bear to split up sooner, or because someone with an eye for beauty recognized that striking James Noone’s sets before absolutely necessary would be perpetuating a crime against art. A play as timelessly funny as Gogol’s deserves a sympathetic treatment: Shakespeare Theatre Company’s performance embraces the earthy and sardonic script with verve but without descending into pastiche.

Forget worrying about screwing the 47 percent: Gogol’s feckless mayor and his cabinet run a kleptocracy on lines that would be truly titanic, save for their limited scope in a provincial, pre-industrial Russian town. The Government Inspector is brilliant political satire, no less piquant today for its effectiveness when originally produced in 1836. The characters, none of them likeable, are as exaggerated as their florid costumes. As the convoluted situation and the mayor’s grip on power unravel, the audience is left with the comfort that, in the end, justice for the people will prevail. The theme of political corruption and ineptitude finds traction with modern audiences, particularly in the current acrimonious pre-election environment. It must have been tempting to set this performance somewhere other than 19th-century Russia: modern America would work almost as well (but then some of the jokes couldn’t be as risqué).

Most comedies fall along a spectrum from mildly amusing to outright hilarious: few ever achieve, let alone maintain, the decibel level of laughter elicited by the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s adaptation of The Government Inspector. If you’re looking for a change from the usual scene, let Cloture Club recommend you to visit the Shakespeare Theater’s latest play: The Government Inspector. To purchase tickets for the show click here.

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