A ‘Gogol-lite’ production of The Government Inspector

The Government Inspector
Chichester Festival theatre; until 24 May 

The story goes that Nikolai Gogol was so appalled by reactions to the first production of The Government Inspector in 1836 that he fled abroad and stayed away for 12 years, returning only occasionally to Russia or his native Ukraine. His problem was not that the play had failed. On the contrary, although attacked by conservative opinion for its portrayal of bureaucratic corruption, it was praised by Tsar Nicholas and ran throughout the season.

One of the things that dismayed Gogol was the staging, which he felt overplayed the farcical features within the text. So he reworked elements within the story of the lowly, feckless civil servant Khlestakov (here assured actor-comedian Tom Rosenthal, from Channel 4’s Friday Night Dinner), who, passing through a small town, is mistaken by its mayor and officials for an inspector sent by central government to check up on them. The action exposes venalities of human nature by laying bare the officials’ self-serving attempts to cover up misdeeds, recognisable through all ages and in all places (partygate, the Post Office, infected blood, water companies…?).

This new adaptation by Phil Porter emphasises knockabout comedy and pantomime-style characterisation, set in a picture-book, period Russian Empire past (design and costumes by Francis O’Connor; musicians in folk costumes melodically covering scene changes). Since no information is given about Porter’s choices, in either programme or text, we can’t be certain who is responsible for satire-blunting gags, including two defenestrations: Lloyd Hutchinson’s grasping mayor inexplicably expelling a puppy through a first-floor window; and Miltos Yerolemou’s Bobchinsky falling through a skylight. Elsewhere, Yerolemou, along with Paul Rider as Dobchinsky, find humanity in pitch-perfect comic exaggeration.

Greg Doran’s first major production since he stepped down as artistic director of the RSC is a lively, well-produced entertainment. His hard-working cast of 18 delivers physicalised routines with gusto. Overall, an amusing evening but Gogol-lite.