The Government Inspector

Proudly Presented by Cathay Playhouse — Our Annual Production 2011.

This year we are presenting The Government Inspector, written by Nikolai Gogol and directed by our Resident Director, WANG Hui-Li.

The Government Inspector is the most representative work of Russian lampoonist, Nikolai Gogol. The play is set in a remote town, headed by the Mayor who leads a team of corrupt officials. At the news of a Government Inspector coming to investigate, they react with terror and mistaken a son of a nobleman, who is merely passing through the town, as the “Government Inspector”. They pander to him in every possible way, desperately offering bribes, trying to be on closer terms with the young man.

The play unveils the evils of various officials under the Tsarist autocracy in the early 18th century. Given its reflection on corruption, personal empowerment, vulgarity and other fundamental characteristics of government officials, the play is regarded as a milestone in the history of Russian realist drama.

In 2011, Cathay Playhouse Inc. will showcase its Chinese adaptation of the absurd comedy, The Government Inspector. We travel across time and space to modern China, setting ourselves in the historical background of the early 20th century (late-Qing/early-Republican) in a time of military melee, social destitution and high-level corruption. By locating the story in “Goosetown”, an imaginary place in rural China, and using the unique theatre technique of blurred time and space, we hope to bring the audience unexpected surprises and provoke thoughts on our reality.

It is our ideal to use witty Chinese humour to freshly interpret the 17 lively characters created by Gogol, and characterise the play as “the most comprehensive tutorial on the pathology of corrupted officials in China”. Long governed by the rowdy and corrupt Mayor, with his officials who are scoundrels by nature and in fact are idiots, the closed-off Goosetown is entrenched in corruption. When rumours are heard of a Government Inspector travelling incognito from the capital to investigate the real state of affairs, the corrupt officials become hysterical with panic. At this moment, they receive news that a young civil servant is staying at the only inn in town, and mistakenly believe that he must be the Government Inspector – whereas in reality, this remarkable-looking young man is only on a wandering journey and gambling along the way.

The reason why Gogol’s The Government Inspector has always been welcomed by the audience since its premiere in Imperial Russia is its unrelenting criticism of reality. The founder of the National Theatre of Russia, Belinsky, once commented that “the upper class so detests this play because it comically reveals their ugly faces and unclean souls!” After attending the play’s premiere in 1836, the Russian Finance Minister said to the Military Secretary, “Gogol is enemy of the Russian people. He should be exiled to Siberia!” Other officials said, “This play openly vilifies the government!” Because of all these reasons, the play has captivated the general public, even more than a hundred years later.

Based on the spirit of the original play, we have made a bold adaptation and integrated Chinese elements into The Government Inspector. At the same time of bringing laughter to the audience, we hope the play will also rouse reflections on the state of society and our humanity.