The primary theme of The Government Inspector is about ‘status anxiety’. The character’s need to have their existence validated is so extreme that the clarity of their vision is hilariously unclear while we watch them fawning over an impostor. The comment from the governor, “You don’t say! An illustrious guest like you to be subjected to such annoyance at the hands of-whom? Of vile bugs which should never have been born. And I dare say, it’s dark here, too”, illustrates the effusive behaviour of the townsfolk and highlights the importance of ‘status’ in their small community.
Human corruption, another central theme in the play is interwoven throughout the storyline. Humour is used to accentuate the obvious folly in their corruption. “But what kind of bribes? White greyhound puppies. That’s quite a different matter.”
Gogol’s characters are obsessed with St.Petersburg where they believe high society reigns and all the action occurs. “Please tell all the high personages there, the senators and the admirals, that Piotr Ivanovich Bobchinsky lives in this town”. This aptly shows the importance of the impostor, Khlestakov, who is seen as an educated person who can help enlarge the status of the townspeople.
The setting of the production contains vivid, colourful and picturesque backdrops. However, the raggedy old curtains and dodgy looking footlights allow you to draw parallels while still containing the action. There is blatant theatrical fakery of the setting, where there is no masking at all. This all adds to the falsehoods that the characters are attempting to uphold. For example, when a character opened a door the entire audience just notices a void. It can be assumed that the director, Adam Cook,
has attempted to create the illusion that the world does not go beyond the walls of the set. The dilapidated props and furniture are indicative of the town’s affairs.
The characters are clumsy and not refined in their behaviour or actions. They gossip mercilessly and play into the intrigue and corruption in the hope their desires will be fulfilled. For example the mayor’s wife tries to marry off her daughter to Khlestakov on the basis that all their dreams will come true, because she would be marrying into a higher class of society in St.Petersburg. Thus alleviating their status anxiety.
Symbolism is used throughout the play. The governor in the beginning relates his dream to his counterparts. “Upon my word, I never saw the likes of them- black and supernaturally big. They came in, sniffed, and went away.” This is a parallel used to convey to the audience the Mayor’s fear of the government inspector being sent to ‘sniff’ out societies’ corruption in provincial Russia. In addition, symbolism expressed in the performance helped connect the Tsarist Russia with modern times. The babushka dolls were easily recognisable as Russian artefacts. Their presence was symbolic as a connection between Russian folk-song and American disco music of the 70’s, which before was relatively unreported. This was performed at the start of the production when the main characters sang modern American songs, such as Eminem, in Russian costumes. Gogol intentionally wrote his plays to be socially realistic. Thereby, the audience was able to relate to the modernism of the songs.
In the performance I particularly enjoyed three scenes which were memorable for their theatrical elements. In Khlestakov’s bedroom, humour of the eyes of Bobchinsky in the painting was used to highlight the folly of intrigue. The obvious nature of the characters in the initial meeting exposes their solicitous intentions. The transparency of their behaviour is further observed in the scene where a lamp is brought down to light Khlestakov’s cigar. He laps up the attention that is given by his hosts the townspeople. Finally, in the musical interlude of Marya and Anna Andreyevna, lighting is used to emphasise the musician’s performance of modern songs, and in turn allows for a quick scene change.
The performance was a successful premiere for the director Adam Cook and the talented actors that participated in the play. The social realism that was found to be humourous in Provincial Russia still retains its comedic nature today as it is based on human folly. The Russian proverb, “Don’t blame the mirror if your mug is crooked” still holds true today.
