Download Government Inspector

A Young Vic / Warwick Arts Centre co-production
Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
Contents
1.
Nikolai Gogol
2.
The Works of Nikolai Gogol
3.
Synopsis
4.
Cast and Creative Team
5.
Rehearsal Diary: Andy Brunskill, Assistant Director
6.
Government Inspector
7.
Russia
8.
Mistaken Identity
9.
Drama Exercises
10.
Bibliography
If you have any questions or comments about this Resource Pack please contact us:
The Young Vic, 66 The Cut, London, SE1 8LZ
T: 020 7922 2800 F: 020 7922 2801 e: [email protected]
Compiled by: Adam Penford
First performed at Warwick Arts Centre on 23 May 2011
First performed at the Young Vic on 3 June 2011
Rehearsal photographs by Keith Pattinson
The Young Vic Teachers Programme is supported by:
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A Young Vic / Warwick Arts Centre co-production
Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
1. NIKOLAI GOGOL
Nikolai Gogol was born on 20th March 1809 and died on 21st February 1852. Despite his relatively short
life, his novels, short stories, essays and plays have made him one of the most renowned Russian authors
of the last two hundred years. Gogol’s prose combined a surrealist imagination with, for the first time,
the everyday vocabulary of the Russian people. Government Inspector1 is his best known play and its
satirical treatment of political corruption in a new theatrical form challenged the status quo of Russian
theatre.
Nikolai Gogol
Gogol was born on his parents’ country estate in a Cossack village called Sorochintsi which was part of
the Russian Empire (it is today part of the Ukraine) [see chapter six]. Gogol’s grandfather was born with
the surname Ianovskii but had reinstated the family name, Gogol, to lay claim to his ancestral minor
1
Different translations of the play have varying titles including The Government Inspector, The Inspector General and The
Inspector. David Harrower’s adaptation is called Government Inspector.
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A Young Vic / Warwick Arts Centre co-production
Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
nobility. The estate, named Vasilevka, consisted of 3000 acres and had 100 serfs2. Gogol’s mother also
originated from Polish nobility and was much younger than his father. Always eccentric, in her later life
she was very proud of her son’s achievements, although alongside his literary successes she often praised
him as the inventor of the railway and steamship. His parents spoke both Russian and Ukranian at home
and both cultures have subsequently claimed Gogol as an artistic interpreter of their heritage. His father
was well educated and an amateur playwright and poet, and his uncle owned his own theatre; Gogol was
exposed to the art form at a young age. He developed a talent for imitating others, a skill which led him
to consider becoming an actor. A solitary child, Gogol was secretive and withdrawn, which as an adult
manifested itself in bouts of depression. When he enrolled at Poltava boarding school in 1819, his
classmates described him as a “mysterious dwarf” and he did not make many friends; although students
feared his fierce wit. In 1821 he graduated to Nezhin high school and whilst there his father died in
1825. Under the tutorage of some good teachers, the teenage Gogol excelled in his studies and acted to
acclaim in many school productions. He began to focus on writing poems and short stories, editing the
school magazine and developed a powerful ambition to become a famous writer.
After completing his education in 1828, Gogol moved to St Petersburg (then the capital of Russia) to
pursue a literary career. He took with him a certificate which specified that he belonged to ‘the rank of
the 14th class’ [see chapter six] and worked in minor governmental positions to support himself. He paid
300 roubles to publish a long narrative poem, Hans Kuchelgarten, which sold for five roubles. However,
several publications strongly criticised the work and Gogol tracked down the editions and burnt them. It
was not the last time he destroyed his own work in a fit of rage. He also auditioned as an actor for the
Aleksandrinsky Theatre but failed due to severe nerves. Gogol then focused on writing short stories,
instead of poetry, and in 1931 published a collection entitled Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka,
receiving great critical acclaim. As Gogol’s profile increased he began to make the acquaintance of other
prestigious Russian writers, most importantly Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), considered by many to be
the founder of modern Russian literature. Pushkin’s encouragement motivated Gogol and the four years
that they were companions proved to be Gogol’s most productive. Four volumes of short stories were
published during this time including part two of Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka (1832), Arabesques
(1835) and part one and two of Mirgorod (1835). At the prompting of Pushkin, many of these works
drew on the traditional Ukrainian folk stories of Gogol’s childhood. He explored the complex social
2
A serf is a servant attached to the land, either paid a nominal wage, or paid in kind by being allowed to live rent-free on the
estate
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A Young Vic / Warwick Arts Centre co-production
Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
structure of Russia and contrasted rural life with that of St Petersburg, capturing the essence of Russian
life, themes also at the heart of Government Inspector. Taras Bulba (published in Mirgorod) was the
longest short story he wrote and was a romanticised history of the Cossacks.
Alexander Pushkin
Gogol’s interest in history during this period led to his decision to pursue a career as a teacher of world
history. He first applied to Kiev University who declined his application because he had no formal
qualifications, however the University of St. Petersburg appointed him Professor of Medieval History in
1834. The role was not successful as Gogol soon realised he did not have sufficient knowledge of the
subject and began to skip classes. He eventually resigned his position the following year after the now
notorious incident where he arrived at class with a bandage around his head feigning toothache and
refusing to speak. During 1835, Gogol wrote the short story, The Nose, one of his most memorable and
surreal works concerning a St Petersberg official whose nose leaves his face and takes on a life of its
own as a civil servant before becoming a nose again. Many commentators have sought a message in the
story, but the majority arrive at the conclusion that the plot is a piece of comic absurdist nonsense,
influenced by other popular surrealist art of the period.
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Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
Gogol had first attempted playwriting in 1832 with the unfinished Decoration of Vladimir of the Third
Class, and in 1835 returned to the genre with Marriage. The comic play portrayed a civil servant,
Podkolyosin, who competes with other suitors to obtain the hand of a pretty local girl, Agafya. After a
protracted competition Podkolyosin is named the victor but the bride is left at the altar when it is
discovered that the Podkolyosin has had second thoughts and escaped through the window. The play was
not a major success but the farcical plotting and comic characterisation paved the way for Gogol’s next
attempt the following year, Government Inspector. The play is now considered to be Gogol’s masterpiece
and is still performed worldwide. However, it divided its audience at the time and many were offended by
its negative portrayal of Russian society [see chapter five]. Gogol felt his audience had misunderstood the
meaning of the work and went into self-exile, not returning permanently to his native country for twelve
years.
Gogol’s travels took him to Europe. He spent time in Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy, and
briefly, in 1848, on a pilgrimage to Palestine. He suffered frequent episodes of depression and
hypochondria, and he became more and more concerned with religion. Most academics believe that
Gogol had no significant relationships during his lifetime and most probably died a virgin, although some
suggest that his relationship with a nobleman called Iosif Vielhorsky whilst in Rome was perhaps more
than platonic. Whilst Gogol was in Italy he was devastated to receive news of Pushkin’s death in a duel.
The following year Vielhorsky died of tuberculosis and Gogol’s subsequent work took on a darker tone.
He began work on Dead Souls, which he intended to consist of three parts based on the structure of The
Divine Comedy (an Italian epic poem written between 1308-1321 by Dante). The novels would explore
the life of a rogue called Chichikov whose journey to become a good man would be reflected in Gogol’s
borrowing of Dante’s structure- hell, purgatory and heaven. The first part was published in 1842,
although the title was altered to The Adventures of Chichikov to avoid Russian censorship. Gogol believed
that part one of his story was “a pale introduction to the great epic poem which is taking shape in my
mind and will finally solve the riddle of my existence”. The novel’s success, combined with the publication
of his first collected works, led many to call him the finest living Russian prose writer of his age. He built
on this reputation later in the year by returning to the short story form and producing the surreal and
macabre, The Overcoat. Featuring a poor Government clerk who purchased a coat which is subsequently
stolen, he is denied help by his tyrannical boss and dies of fright. The clerk returns as a ghost and steals
his bosses coat in revenge. Despite the critical success of The Overcoat, Gogol’s psychotic behaviour
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A Young Vic / Warwick Arts Centre co-production
Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
increased and in 1845, shortly after completing the first draft of the second part of Dead Souls, he burnt
the manuscript.
In 1848, Gogol returned to his homeland and spent his remaining years moving around the country,
staying with friends. He became intensely religious, partly as a result of his friendship with a fanatical
churchman called Matvey Konstantinovsky. Konstantinovsky sought to convince Gogol that his writing
was ungodly and that he should repent and enter monastic life. During this time he was near to
completing the second draft of part two of his Dead Souls trilogy, but Konstantinovsky convinced Gogol
that his surreal writing was sinful. It is disputed whether Gogol was going insane or was deeply
depressed, but one night in February 1852 he again threw most of his unpublished writing into the fire,
including the second part of Dead Souls (the third part was never written). He claimed he was made to
do so by the devil and became sick, staying in bed and refusing food. Various remedies were tried in an
attempt to make him eat including attaching leeches to his nose and pouring spirits over his head. He
died in severe pain nine days later. A macabre footnote to Gogol’s story which would not seem out of
place in one of his short stories occurred in 1931 when authorities were demolishing the monastery
where he was buried and his remains were transferred to a new resting place. Gogol’s body was
discovered lying face down inside his coffin, provoking discussion about whether he was buried alive.
Gogol’s contribution to Russian literature was to offer a frank and honest depiction of his country’s
character through surreal and dark comedy. His dark view of humanity emanated from his macabre
disposition:
“I am destined by the mysterious powers to walk hand in hand with my strange heroes, viewing
life in all its immensity as it rushes past me, viewing it through laughter seen by the world and tears
unseen and unknown by it.”
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Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
2. THE WORKS OF NIKOLAI GOGOL
Poetry
1829
Ode to Italy
Hans Kuchelgarten
Short Stories
1831
Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka
1832
Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka II
1835
Arabesques (including ‘The Portrait’, ‘Diary of a Madman’)
Mirgorod (including ‘Taras Bulba’)
The Nose
1836
The Carriage
1842
The Overcoat
Essays
1830
Woman
1842
Leaving the Theatre
1847
Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends
An Author’s Confession
Meditations upon Divine Liturgy
Novels
1841
Dead Souls
Plays
1832
The Order of St Vladimir, Third Class
1835
Government Inspector
1835
Marriage
1836
The Gamblers
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Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
3. SYNOPSIS
In a small Russian town, the Mayor is recounting to his civic officials a premonition he had the previous
night about black rats sniffing around his house. He announces that he has received word that an
incognito government official will be arriving to inspect the town. The officials start making plans to
cover up the corruption which is rife throughout the region. This business is interrupted by news that a
mysterious man from St. Petersberg has already been staying at the local inn for two weeks, the officials
presume in horror that it is the inspector.
Doon Makichan as Anna Andreyevna and Kyle Soller as Khlestakov
At the inn, Khlestakov – who is actually a minor civil servant – has run out of money and is trying to
persuade the landlord to let him have another meal for free. The Mayor arrives at the inn and is shocked
to find Khlestakov in the smallest room, being denied food. The two men talk at cross purposes until the
Mayor offers Khlestakov money and Khlestakov realises the mistaken identity which is occurring. He
decides to take advantage of the error and accepts the Mayor’s offer of hospitality; moving out of the inn
and into the Mayor’s house.
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Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
The locals ply Khlestakov with drink and questions about St. Petersberg society. His stories about his
contacts and civic responsibilities become increasingly more exaggerated as he enjoys the attention. The
locals are both impressed and intimidated. Meanwhile, Khlestakov flirts shamelessly with the Mayor’s
wife and daughter.
The regional officials try to bribe Khlestakov with money to keep him quiet about their misdemeanors.
Osip, Khlestakov’s servant, warns him to leave before he gets caught out. Local shopkeepers and
merchants arrive to tell Khlestakov of the Mayor and his council’s corruption; they bring gifts to
encourage him to remove the Mayor from his post. Khlestakov is shocked at the level of corruption, but
accepts their gifts anyway.
Julian Barratt as The Mayor
Khlestakov flirts again with the Mayor’s daughter and they become engaged. The Mayor is relieved that
this family tie prevents his corruption being punished and gives Khlestakov more money so he can travel
to his father to give him the news of his engagement. Khlestakov and Osip take their leave.
The townsfolk arrive to congratulate the Mayor on the betrothal and the Mayor threatens the
shopkeepers and merchants with reprisals for their betrayal. This is interrupted by the Postman, who has
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Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
intercepted a letter Khlestakov has written to his friend boasting of the mistaken identity and ridiculing
the local officials. The Major and his officials are shocked and humiliated to discover that Khlestakov has
tricked them. A policeman arrives to say that the real government inspector has arrived and wishes to see
them all.
Leading characters
(NB: Some of the names in David Harrower’s adaptation, below, differ from those in Gogol’s original.)
Mayor
A corrupt official from a small regional town
Lyapkin-Tyapkin
The local judge
Zemlyanika
The local trustee of charitable institutions
Khlopov
The local schools superintendent
Doctor Gribner
Head of the local hospital
Postmaster
Head of the local post office
Bobchinski and Dobchiniski
Local landowners
Anna Andreyevna
The Mayor’s wife
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Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
Maria Antonovna
The Mayor’s daughter
Khlestakov
A civil servant who gets mistaken for a government inspector
Osip
Khlestakov’s servant
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Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
4. CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
Cast
The Mayor
Julian Barratt
Khlestakov
Kyle Soller
The Mayor’s Wife
Doon Makichan
Doctor Gribner
Steven Beard
Dobchinsky
Jack Brough
Bobchinsky
Fergus Craig
Avdotya
Buffy Davis
Postmaster
Amanda Lawrence
Lyapkin-Tyapkin
Bruce Mackinnon
Police Chief
David Webber
Mishka
Graham O’Mara
Osip
Callum Dixon
Maria Antonovna
Louise Brealey
Zemlyanika
Eric Maclennan
Khlopov
Simon Muller
Creative Team
Author/Adapter
David Harrower
Direction
Richard Jones
Design
Miriam Buether
Costumes
Nicky Gillibrand
Wig & Makeup Design
Campbell Young
Light
Mimi Jordan Sherin
Music & Sound
David Sawer
Casting
Julia Horan
Russian Literary Consultant
Helen Rappaport
Dialect
Barbara Houseman
Assistant Director
Andy Brunskill
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Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
5. Assistant Director Andy Brunskill’s Rehearsal Diary
Monday 4th April
I had met up with Richard a couple of times before today. We went over how the first week will run and
how he wants me to contribute in the early stages of exploration and conversation. We had both gone
through the first half of the play and separated the action into units or 'events'. That is, moments in the
play which change the atmosphere for everyone. A simple example is someone entering or leaving a
room, but it can also be affected by changes in conversation, revelations from characters etc. He also
tasked me with 'actioning'- attaching transitive verbs to each individual sentence in speech. These will be
used a bit later on in the process.
The first day of rehearsal is always a strange day. It is about making everyone feel secure and
comfortable, as there are lots of nerves flying around and many people do not know each other. I have
tried a few approaches in the past, long speeches on the greatness of the text, brief introductions then a
read-through, no read through at all: I think it was Peter Brook who said the purpose of the first day was
to get through to the second.
We began the morning with Richard giving a short talk on why he was excited by the play, the challenges
of making the show, and how the next few days would run. He said it was important to understand and
master the musicality of the dialogue and not to trivialise the characters in the piece.
We had a read through of the first half of the play which David Harrower had translated. The set up was
that everyone in the cast should read a line each, one at a time going round the table. The purpose of this
is to make sure everyone gets involved at the beginning of the process and also dissuades emotional
readings of the text. Despite being aware of this approach, I have never tried it before, I guess probably
because if it did not work I would have used up some of my extremely limited rehearsal period. However
it really puts the text at the centre of everyone's attention and people are not so worried about what
other people will think about the choices they may or may not have made about their characters. He also
advised the cast that he would be 'interviewing' me every time a point of interest arose. Examples of
these were the structure and function of patronymics in Russia- the Table of Ranks and the socio-political
context of the piece.
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Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
As homework, Richard had asked me to write up 15 different subjects for the cast to go home and
research and present to the company tomorrow. Example topics to cover were Pushkin, Gogol, French
speaking in Russia, the Romanov Dynasty and St Petersburg. They were only small tasks and should not
take more than about 15 minutes to complete. However, they do ensure that the context of the play is at
the forefront of their minds overnight ready to go into the next day’s rehearsal.
To hear more about the role of an Assistant Director, please see Andy’s interview on the
accompanying DVD.
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Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
6. GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR
Gogol obtained the idea for Government Inspector from his friend and fellow author, Alexander Pushkin
[see chapter one]. It is believed that Gogol wrote to Pushkin asking if he knew of any authentic Russian
anecdotes which he could use as the basis for a comedy. Pushkin had once been mistaken himself for a
civil service inspector in a provincial Russian town and recounted the story to Gogol. Gogol completed
the play in 1836 and organised a reading for friends, including Pushkin, and read all the roles himself
eliciting much laughter. Rehearsals soon began with the author in attendance, but Gogol was dismayed to
find that the actors insisted on playing their roles for cheap laughs, caricaturing the characters despite
his advice that truthful depictions would be funnier and more poignant. Gogol’s sense of foreboding was
realised when the play opened in April in St Petersburg to mixed reviews.
Eric Maclennan as Zemlyanika, Simon Muller as Khlopov, Steven Beard as Doctor Gribner, Louise
Brealey as Maria Antonovna, Fergus Craig as Bobchinsky, Bruce Mackinnon as Lyapkin-Tyapkin, Jack
Brough as Dobchinsky and Graham O’Mara as Mishka .
The audience was unsure how to respond to the production as Gogol had created a play which, in form
and style, differed from anything which had previously been seen on the Russian stage. More importantly,
many believed it to be slanderous, perceiving the criticisms of corruption which the author made towards
Russian bureaucracy to be traitorous, and an implication that Russian citizens as a whole were greedy,
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Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
immoral and stupid. Gogol blamed the performers’ over-acting for these accusations. The writer caused
further offense by leaving the theatre in dismay before the end of the play and not making the customary
appearance during the curtain call. The emperor, Nicholas I (1796-1855), who had authorised the play’s
performance after it was initially censored by the government for its criticisms of the authorities, was in
attendance. The emperor is reported to have laughed throughout the production and commented at the
end: “That was some play! Everyone received their comeuppance; and me most of all.” Despite the
emperor’s good-natured comments, Gogol took the emperor’s remarks as an indication of failure as he
believed the emperor, and the majority of the audience, had misinterpreted the production’s denouement.
[See the Assistant Director, Andy Brunskill’s interview on the accompanying DVD for more on this].
Gogol’s intention for the ending of Government Inspector has been long debated. After the characters
receive news that the real government inspector has arrived in the town, the author intended the play to
end in a tableau (frozen picture) which was to last for exactly one and a half minutes:
“The entire company should shift and freeze in position in a single instant. An exclamation of
astonishment must be given by all the female characters simultaneously, as it were from a single pair of
lungs. If this business is not properly performed the whole effect may be ruined.”
In practise, ninety seconds is a long time on stage to retain an audiences’ attention and Gogol’s direction
is rarely realised on stage. The writer’s purpose in requesting this stage business was to indicate to the
audience that the government’s authority, represented in the persona of the genuine civil official, would
prevent the characters from perpetrating any more offences. Gogol’s depiction of the depth of the
characters’ immorality and their ability to overcome obstacles through bribery throughout the events of
the play is so well established however, that without the audience actually seeing the characters receive
punishment, it is hard to imagine they will not be able to squirm their way out of trouble again.
Government Inspector premiered in Moscow a month after St Petersberg and received similar reviews.
Gogol’s frustration led to his twelve year self-exile from Russia [see chapter one]. During his absence, he
worked on a revised text, removing elements of the script which could be played in an overtly farcical or
vaudevillian style. He also wrote notes on how to portray these characters in a preface entitled ‘A
warning to those who would play Government Inspector properly’. This included the following advice:
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Government Inspector
By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
“The main thing to guard against is caricature. There should be nothing exaggerated or trite, even
in the minor roles. On the contrary, the actor should try particularly to be more modest, more simple and
noble, so to speak, than the person he is playing really is.”
The new version was completed in 1842 although it did not receive its premiere until 1870 and now
forms the basis for contemporary productions. There are elements of Gogol’s writing however which lend
themselves to being played in a heightened style. Comic business, such as the Major mistaking his hat box
for a hat, or Bobchinski falling through the door, are reminiscent of farce. Subsequent productions have
veered widely between presenting the play as a farce, and an exploration of the darker side of humanity.
Amanda Lawrence as Postmaster and Julian Barratt as The Mayor
At the time Gogol was writing, Russian theatre consisted predominantly of French and German plays, or
Russian imitations of these works. Theatre had flourished in other European countries during the
Renaissance3 but Russia had little professional theatre until the late eighteenth century. In imitating
French and German models, Russian writers produced either poetic tragedies or frivolous farces. Gogol
believed that this imitative form failed to portray Russian people on stage and was determined theatre
should reflect society. In his mind, theatre could educate as well as entertain. He wrote several essays
arguing for the genre as a means of social reform, citing that “it is a rostrum from which much good can
be spoken to the world”. He also believed that laughter was the perfect instrument to convey important
3
A cultural revival in Europe of the classical arts with an emphasis on learning, 14th - 17th centuries.
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Adapted by David Harrower
messages. His intention is emphasised in the play’s epitaph which states: ‘Do not blame the mirror if your
face is lopsided’, suggesting that audiences should wonder if they have been infact watching themselves
on stage. Although Gogol’s aim for his play to have socio-political intentions was ahead of its time, the
structure of the play was predominantly traditional (with the exception of an absence of a happy ending
and a romantic subplot). The play is symmetrical, beginning and ending with the announcement of the
inspector’s arrival. Nabokov [Russian-American writer, 1899-1977] concluded: “The play begins with a
blinding flash of lightning and ends in a thunderclap. In fact it is wholly placed in the tense gap between
the flash and the crash.” More controversial was Gogol’s use of every day Russian language, particularly
in the working class characters of Osip and the Locksmith’s Wife, attempting to make the characters
realistic. Plays at the time were performed in French, German or the archaic language of the Russian
church, and contemporary audiences were shocked and offended by his colloquial language, deeming it
crude.
Although the original ingenuity of Gogol’s language is often lost in translation, Government Inspector has
been continuously produced worldwide since its inception. Vsevolod Meyerhold [Russian director, 18741940] directed perhaps the most famous production in 1926 which made use of expressionist and
symbolist techniques. During the bribery scenes, disembodied hands pushed money through cracks in the
set, emphasising the scale of poverty and corruption. The production ended with the actors being replaced
by dolls in the final image, achieving Gogol’s intended tableau with an alienating effect. The UK had to
wait until the 20th century before Government Inspector received significant productions, although it has
been regularly performed since. Many adaptors change the time and place of the play’s setting to
emphasise its message and make it relevant to contemporary society. Richard Eyre’s [British director,
1943-] production at the Nottingham Playhouse in 1974 relocated the action to post-war Yorkshire,
exploring the development of the black market in the age of austerity. In 2005, David Farr wrote and
directed an adaptation, The UN Inspector, for the National Theatre which was set in an unnamed former
Soviet state, where local officials mistake an English estate agent for a UN inspector. Tara Arts Group,
an Anglo-Asian theatre company, set the play in India shortly after British colonial rule ended. They
exchanged London in place of St Petersburg as the place of sophistication that its provincial characters
are in awe of.
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By Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Harrower
Richard Jones’ production for the Young Vic retains Gogol’s 1836 setting without becoming a slave to
period detail. The production elaborates on the Mayor’s nightmare which he relates in scene one about
being visited by two rats:
“Two black rats. A premonition I had last night. I dreamt about two black rats – massive rats – monsters.
Broke down my door, sniffled around the whole house, scuttled out and disappeared. Never seen rats that
size.”
Jones’ theatrical exploration of the Mayor’s vision emphasises the corruption within the town and is
reminiscent of the dark worlds Gogol created in his writing.
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7. RUSSIA
Gogol completed Government Inspector in 1835 when Nicholas I [1825-1855] was Tsar of Russia.
During that time, the Empire was torn between pursuing modernisation and retaining traditional values,
and Gogol’s work reflects this conflict.
18th Century
In the 16th and 17th Centuries, Russia was a country plagued by civil wars and internal conflicts, whose
people suffered poverty and famine. Tsar Peter I [1682-1725] began a programme of reform to
transform Russia from a medieval country to a significant European power. Influenced by Western
European advisors, he undertook an eighteenth-month tour, visiting the courts of powerful European
leaders. Upon his return, he started implementing changes which ranged from denouncing arranged
marriages, to forcing his courtiers remove their beards in line with western styles. While some resented
his western affectations, others applauded the nation’s progress; the centralisation of the government,
creation of a navy and strengthening of the army. Detractors realised that the mass-spending which
funded these policies predominantly relied on the further exploitation of peasants and serfs. An updated
alphabet was introduced and much of the nobility began speaking French. The zenith of Peter the Great’s
rule (a self-given title) came in 1721 when he proclaimed the establishment of the Russian Empire. He
died four years later.
19th Century
At the beginning of the 19th Century, the Russian Empire extended from the Arctic Ocean in the north, to
the Black Sea in the south, and from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. The
1897 census recorded a population of 125.6 million people, making it the third largest population in the
world. These 125.6 million people represented a huge disparity in economic, ethnic, cultural and
religious positions.
Peter I’s policy of modernisation was pursued with varying intensities by subsequent Tsars, but when
Nicholas I inherited the throne in 1825, the country was still economically lagging behind Western
Europe, and his reign was defined by subsequent internal conflicts. The impact of the Napoleonic Wars4
4
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts between Napoleon’s French Empire and other European and Asian countries,
including Russia.
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[1803-1815], in Alexander I [1801-1825], his predecessor’s reign had taken their toll, despite Russia’s
successful dismissal of the French invasion. The French had previously been revered in Russian high
society for their language and sophisticated culture, but the war caused a backlash. This is seen in the
prejudice towards the French expressed by the characters in Government Inspector, and the gradual
abandonment of the French language in high society. Furthermore, as a result of the war, Russian
officers travelled to Western Europe and witnessed the economic growth being enjoyed following the
Industrial Revolution5 [18th and 19th century]. They had also observed the relative liberalism enjoyed by
European citizens during Nicholas I’s reign, and began to rebel against the autocratic Russian
government. Although the uprisings were contained, they led Nicholas to adopt a stricter doctrine
entitled Orthodoxy, Autocracy and Nationality (1833), which demanded loyalty to the Tsar and Orthodox
Church. Whilst many viewed this as a regressive policy, others (including Gogol) believed it to be a policy
of pride in Russian identity and a defiance of Western decadence. Even if the ideology could be viewed as
regressive, it was the first state-wide policy in Russia since the 16th century. Nicholas took a hard line
with the revolutionaries, banishing hundreds of thousands to Siberia. He also placed police spies
throughout the state and introduced censorship in places of education, distributing official textbooks on
world history.
Corruption
Gogol depicted Russia’s corrupt society in his play. The size of the nation, both in terms of landmass
(9,000,000 square miles- nearly 100 times the size of the United Kingdom) and population
(125,000,000 people), made it difficult to regulate provincial administrations which encouraged
corruption by ambitious individuals. The sheer size of the Empire also meant other locations in the same
country had an exoticness, hence the locals’ fascination with the distant and glamorous St. Petersburg in
Government Inspector. An influential historian and philosopher, Mikhail Shcherbatov [1733-1790], had
written a prominent treatise On the Corruption of Morals in Russia forty years before Gogol’s play. This
scathing essay criticised the country’s rulers for their abuse of power, claiming that bribery and
embezzlement of public funds was ripe. He accused the authorities of appointing unqualified friends and
family members to positions of responsibility, which further increased the disorganisation and lack of
effective government which was crucifying the nation. Shcherbatov did not advocate the abolition of
serfdom (slavery), unlike some other social reformists, as he believed this would cause further
5
The Industrial Revolution was a period during which new technology, such as steam powered machinery, led to major
changes in agriculture, mining, manufacturing and transportation. This had a huge effect on the way people worked and lived.
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deterioration in Russia’s economy and leave many serfs unable to support themselves. Instead, he
promoted the notion that landlords and farmers should treat the serfs better and recognise their
contribution to society. Gogol’s novel, Dead Souls (1842), highlighted the degradation suffered by
Russia’s serfs. The ‘souls’ in the title refers to the measuring unit used to denote how many serfs a
landowner possessed, for example, ‘two souls of serfs’ meant two serfs. Serfs were at the bottom in a
society dominated by its class structure.
A Map of the 19th Century Russian Empire
Society
Many historians and social commentators consider 18th and 19th Russia to have been over-governed by an
overcomplicated administration. The social structure strictly enforced by the government consisted of
four hierarchical levels: the clergy, nobility, urbanites, and rural dwellers (essentially peasants). These
categories were further divided into subcategories. The clergy were designated either ‘red’ (monks) or
‘white’ (priests). Urbanites were divided into ‘hereditary distinguished citizens’, ‘personal distinguished
citizens’, ‘merchants’, ‘commoners’, or ‘craftspeople’. This already dense system was further complicated
as a citizen’s individual circumstances would defy categorisation. For example a rural dweller may have
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a residence in town and would therefore be classified as ‘urban peasants’, straddling the two categories.
This complicated the governmental system as a citizen’s classification often defined their legal rights and
dictated the level of tax they paid. There was even a category for people who belonged to no category,
‘persons of miscellaneous ranks’. When Gogol arrived in St Petersburg he used his certificate defining
him as minor nobility belonging to the ‘fourteenth class’ to obtain his low-ranking government clerking
employment.
The Cossacks
Many of Gogol’s works draw upon his childhood and blend folklore with rural traditions. The writer was
born in Sorochyntsi, a traditional Cossack village in the Poltava Governorate, in what is now the
Ukraine. His early stories were acclaimed for giving a voice to the ordinary Ukrainian people, and later
in his career he became recognised as the voice of commonplace Russia. The state had a complex
relationship with the Cossack people; juggling its dependence on the Cossacks for their expertise as
soldiers with the Cossacks’ determination to retain their own unique cultural identity. The origins of the
Cossacks are disputed by historians who believe they may have descended from Tatars, Turks and
Russians, or, more likely, a mix of all three. During the sixteenth century, the ethnic group were
persecuted and some groups of Cossacks established independent territories within Ukraine. However, in
the seventeenth century, these territories were brought under the control of Russia where they remained
for 300 years. The Cossacks gained a reputation for warfare, and, working in allegiance with the
Tsardom of Russia, systematically colonised the areas around Russia to secure her borders, including the
whole of Siberia (which subsequently made up 77% of Russia’s territory, although only 22% of Russia’s
population lives there). Russia became increasingly reliant on the Cossacks to defend their borders, but
enforced military service and attempts assimilate the Cossacks into Russian culture led to divisions within
the community, as some strove to keep their traditions alive, whilst others were happy to bow to the
Empire’s will. This in turn led to several Cossack rebellions during the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, and a subsequent denial of the ethnic group’s civil rights.
During the Russian Civil War [1918-1922], many Cossacks sided with the White Army6 against the Red
Bolshevik Army7 and consequently underwent famine and oppression when the Red Army won. From that
6
The White Army was the army of the Russian Government, who fought against the Red Bolshevik Army in the Russian Civil
War.
7
The Red Bolshevik Army was a collection of workers and peasants who fought for communism. Their victory led to the
eventual formation of the Soviet Union.
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time onwards, the Cossack people struggled to find a voice in Soviet Russia. Following the dissolution of
the Soviet Union8 in the 1990s, Cossack territories were restored and they now operate their own
administration within Russia. Specialist Cossack units still exist in the Russian military. In 2005, the
then Russian President, Vladimir Putin, introduced a bill entitled On the State Service of the Russian
Cossacks- for the first time in decades, Cossacks were recognised as not only a distinct ethnocultural
entity, but also a potent military force.
During the twentieth century, Russia underwent major changes; the revolution of 1918 over-threw the
Tsarist autocracy, to be replaced by the Soviet Union and finally, in 1991, the Russian Federation. The
people of Russia continue to have a complex relationship with the state; attempting to maintain a
balance between national pride and a desire to hold the government to account.
8
The Soviet Union (or USSR) was a country which included modern-day Russia and a number of other surrounding states,
including Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
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Brief Timeline of Russian History from Peter I to Nicholas I
1682
Peter I, the Great, declared tsar.
1699
Peter I bans traditional dress, introduces Western fashion and modernises the Russian
calendar.
1713
Peter I replaces Moscow as the Russian capital with St. Petersburg.
1721
Peter I declares himself Emperor of the Russian Empire.
1722
Peter I introduces the Table of Ranks, granting privileges to the nobility.
1725
Peter I dies. Catherine I, Peter I’s wife, is declared Empress.
1725-1825
A succession of tsars rule for short periods of time due to political unrest (usurpations)
and death by natural causes.
1803-1815
Napoleonic wars.
1809
Nikolai Gogol is born.
1812
Russia defies the French invasion.
1825
Nicholas I inherits.
1825
The Bolshoi Theatre opens in Moscow.
1826
Start of the Russio-Persian War.
1828
Start of the Russio-Turkish War.
1830
November uprising in Poland is quickly quashed.
1831
Alexander Pushkin’s Boris Godunov is first published.
1833
Nicholas publishes Orthodoxy, Autocracy and Nationality.
1836
Government Inspector premieres.
1842
Gogol publishes Dead Souls.
1852
Gogol dies.
1853
Crimean War.
1855
Nicholas I dies. Throne inherited by Alexander II.
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8. MISTAKEN IDENTITY
The central plot of Government Inspector revolves around the mistaken identity of Khlestakov for a
government official. Mistaken identity is a dramatic device often associated with Shakespeare, and more
recently farces. However the technique has actually been used throughout the history of western theatre,
beginning with the ancient Greeks.
Greek theatre comedy has been divided by scholars into two movements. Old Comedy [late 5th century
BC] consisted predominantly of satire aimed at Greek society and famous individuals. Aristophanes [c.
446-386 BC] was the most famous of the Old Comedy playwrights and eleven of his forty plays survive,
including The Birds and Lysistrata. By 317 BC however, this form had been succeeded by New Comedy
which focussed on the ordinary citizen and replaced satire with a rough humour, similar to contemporary
farces. The most famous proponent of New Comedy was Menander [c.342-291 BC] who used various
plot devices, including mistaken identity, in his situational comedy. Menander also introduced several
stock characters which have been used in the theatre throughout the ages and remain in place today,
most notably the bad tempered old man, as featured in his play, The Grouch. Another of Menander’s
personas is the boastful soldier, a stranger to a town who greatly exaggerates his good qualities and
achievements. Seemingly to humour his showing-off, the other characters secretly despise his ego and
plot his downfall. The role of Khlestakov in Government Inspector shares many similarities with this
stock character. Wily servants, who are actually cleverer than their masters, also featured in Menander’s
work; Khlestakov’s servant, Osip, is based on this stock character. Although Menander wrote over
hundred plays, only The Grouch survives in its entirety, but fragments of his other plays have influenced
generations of comedy writers, particularly the Romans.
Titus Maccius Plautus [c. 252 - unknown BC] was a stage carpenter born in central Italy who studied
Greek drama in his spare time. Plautus was a fan of New Comedy, especially Menander, and began
writing his own plays, based on the Greek style, around 205 BC. During his lifetime he wrote over fifty
plays, of which twenty survive (the largest number of any of the ancient playwrights), and gained huge
popularity. Many of Plautus’ plots are directly borrowed from Greek works and he simply changed details
to make them relevant to his audience. Accordingly, Plautus incorporated the device of mistaken identity,
particularly in his most well-known play, Menaechmi. Menaechmi concerns identical twins that get
separated at a young age. Later in life the brothers arrive in the same city and, against their knowledge,
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are constantly mistaken for each other, leading to farcical situations. The brothers eventually meet and
realise they are twins. Plautus’ comic stories have had a great influence on future dramatists and the
essential plot of Menaechmi has been subsequently borrowed by several notable dramatists including
Carlo Goldoni [Italian playwright, 1707-1793] in The Venetian Twins [1747], the Richard Rodgers
[American composer, 1902-1979] and Lorenz Hart [American lyricist, 1895-1943] musical, The Boys
from Syracuse [1938], and most famously, Shakespeare’s [1564-1616] play, The Comedy of Errors [c.
1594].
The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare’s earliest works and closer to a farce than his other
comedies. Similar to Government Inspector, the play adheres to the rules of classical unities of time,
place and action set out by Greek Philosopher Aristotle [384-322 BC] in his Poetics. The play should
take place over no more that a day; the action should be contained in one location (Government
Inspector does deviate from this, with the scene at Khlestakov’s lodgings); and the play should follow one
through-line, with little or no subplots.
The Comedy of Errors differs from Menaechmi in that Shakespeare introduces two sets of twins- masters
and their servants (although Shakespeare could have borrowed this idea from a lesser-known Plautus
play, Amphitruo). The mistaken identities which ensue when the Syracusan master and servant arrive in
Ephesus lead to beatings and arrests as well as false accusations of madness, theft and infidelity. Many
of Shakespeare’s other plays feature mistaken identities (for example, A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Twelfth Night, As You Like It), although the key difference between the majority of these and The
Comedy of Errors is that the protagonist arrives with the deliberate intention of trying to deceive through
disguise. In Government Inspector, Khlestakov does not set about to deceive but is happy to continue the
deception.
There are many modern examples of dramatists using mistaken identity as a dramatic method. The
Victorian writers W.S. Gilbert [1836-1911] and Arthur Sullivan [1842-1900], authors of fourteen comic
operas including The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, The Gondoliers and H.M.S. Pinafore, often
included elements of mistaken identity in their plots. Mix-ups at birth was a device they constantly
employed as an ignition for the farcical tangles they specialised in. At the same time, French dramatist
Georges Feydeau [1862-1921] had become the father of modern farce. His works were fast paced with
the actors’ entrances precisely timed so they just missed one another, leading to mistaken identity and
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misunderstandings. Feydeau is associated with bedroom farces which revolve around sexual couplings of
various combinations. His most famous work, A Flea in Her Ear, (revived by the Old Vic theatre in
London earlier this year) premiered in 1907 and concerned a wife who believes (mistakenly) that her
husband is cheating on her. She arranges a fake rendezvous at a hotel to see if her husband takes the
bait. Meanwhile, a drunken porter, who looks exactly like the husband, is working in the hotel and his
behaviour leads everyone to believe the husband has gone insane. Feydeau extends the comedy by having
the same actor play both the porter and the husband to the delight of the audience who enjoy the actor’s
versatility and appreciate the complex mechanics of the production, particularly how quickly some of the
offstage costume changes are accomplished. Although Feydeau was not the first dramatist to experiment
with this version of mistaken identity (Goldoni did the same thing in The Venetian Twins), his play is the
most famous example of the device. British writer, Ray Cooney [1932-], is the contemporary equivalent
of Feydeau, specialising in bedroom farce. Seventeen of his plays have played in London’s West End over
the last fifty years and his most famous, Run for Your Wife [1983], ran for over nine years. A key device
of Cooney’s productions is presumed or assumed identity.
Of course, mistaken identity is not just used for comic effect in art. Perhaps the most well-known
example in serious drama is based on the true story of Martin Guerre in the 16th century. In 1548,
Guerre was accused of stealing grain and disappeared abruptly from the French village of Artigat. Eight
years later a man returned to the village claiming to be Guerre. The majority of the village, including
Guerre’s wife, believed his claim. Three years later however the man’s doubters brought his case to court
and during the course of the trail the real Martin Guerre reappeared. The imposter was eventually
executed in 1560. The story gripped France and has been the subject of many books and dramatisations,
the most famous of which are the film, Sommersby [1993], starring Richard Gere and Jodie Foster, and
the musical Martin Guerre [1996].
Gogol’s central conceit in Government Inspector may not be original, but the concept of mistaken identity
is one that many dramatists have borrowed. All writers have put their own spin on the old device; from
Shakespeare’s creation of two sets of twins, to Goldoni and Feydeau’s use of the same actor playing both
roles. In Government Inspector, Khlestakov does not arrive in town with the intention of conning its
inhabitants into believing that he is the official, (although admittedly he does falsely assume a higher
status in order to obtain a room and food); it is the locals who mistake his identity. However, Khlestakov
is only too eager not to correct the error; he abuses the mistake for all the assets he can lay his hands on,
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(including the mayor’s daughter, and to some extent, wife). He also brazenly relishes the attention, as
demonstrated in his long speech at the climax of act one, where his lies get ever more fantastical until he
has built himself into a state of ecstasy. Gogol’s main twist on the device is to allow Khlestakov to escape
at the close of the play, instead of his true identity being recognised and the characters receiving their
comeuppance.
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9. DRAMA EXCERCISES
A.) Tableau
A tableau is a frozen onstage image which portrays a story. The word means 'living picture’ in French and
many theatre practitioners use the device as a means of emphasising a play’s underlying message. In the
text of Government Inspector, Gogol specifies the play ending with a ‘tableau of consternation’ [see
chapter five].
Tableaux Exercise 1
• Standing in a circle, ask the students to act simultaneously being shocked.
• In the height of this emotion, ask them to freeze.
• Whilst still frozen, ask the students to imagine their physicality on a scale of one to ten.
• Ask them to assume that they are currently frozen on a physicality level of five, then tell them to
heighten their physicality to a nine or ten.
• Ask the students to unfreeze and discuss how easy they found the exercise and how it felt within their
body. Common observations: they had to keep the essence of the emotion (shock) mentally alive;
tension within all parts of their body increased; they felt physically bigger as if they had literally
grown in size; it required a lot of sustained energy; and using their mouth, eyes and other facial
features were crucial.
• Recreate the exercise experimenting with different emotions and different levels of physicality on a
scale of one to ten.
Tableau Exercise 2
• Split into groups. Give each group a popular film title and ask them to create a tableau based on the
film title. Alongside the overall picture they create, encourage the students to give thought to their
individual physicality based on the previous exercise. Give the groups a short time-limit to eliminate
unnecessary discussion and analysis.
• Ask the other students to guess the title of the film from each group’s tableau.
• Discuss the choice of tableau. An interesting point is whether the group chose to create a tableau
representing a key scene from the film, an indication of the title, or a general depiction of the film’s
themes.
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Tableau Exercise 3
• Split into groups. Give each group a scenario with which to create a tableau- these can be everyday or
dramatic. It is important all the group are agreed on the exact moment in the scenario that they are
depicting. Ensure that every group member will have an active role to play.
• Everyday examples: an old lady falls over in the street; a bus does not stop at a crowded bus stop; it
starts to rain in a park on an August bank holiday.
Dramatic examples: the assignation of JFK; the Titanic sinking; an elephant escapes from a zoo.
• When showing the tableau, discuss the clarity of the narrative and emotion. Discussion points could
include the direction the actors are facing; the distance between people; height levels; physical contact
between actors and the difficulty of freezing in certain positions. It is interesting to ask a member of
another group to enter the tableau and adjust the image for clarity.
Tableau Exercise 4
• Using the specific techniques detailed above, create the ‘tableau of consternation’ which Gogol
specifies in Government Inspector. Use the lines of the play leading up to the tableau to put the
tableau in context.
A Policeman enters.
Policeman
Sir?
Mayor
What is it?
Policeman
I`ve just come from the inn.
Mayor
And?
Policeman
A Government Inspector`s arrived from Petersburg by Imperial Decree.
Mayor
A Government Inspector?
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Lyapkin-Tyapkin
What? A Government Inspector?
Policeman
He wishes to see you all immediately.
They all stare at him and each other. Silence.
Tableau Exercise 5
• A fun concluding exercise is asking the students to create one big tableau involving everyone. Pick a
key moment of high and varied emotions such as the decision to award the controversial third goal in
the 1966 world cup. This could include characters of both German and English nationalities and
incorporate the players, referee, linesman, crowd, managers, commentators etc.
B.) Status
Gogol uses character status in Government Inspector for comic effect and the shifts of status that occur
during the play are complex. If the actors do not play their status correctly, then Gogol’s vision will not
be realised and the clarity of the narrative will not be as clear, or as satisfying, for the audience.
Status Exercise 1
• Divide into groups of 4 or 5. Ask each student to pick from a deck of cards. The cards relate to the
status of the character they are playing; i.e. the king has the highest status, one has the lowest. The
students should only know what their own card is.
• Give the groups a generic situation where they are strangers meeting for the first time; i.e. the first
day at school; a conference; a wedding reception.
• Ask each group to imagine arriving at the venue and to improvise introducing themselves, paying
particular attention to their status.
• After the improvisation has played out, ask the group to get into a status line with the person they
perceive to be of the highest status at one end and the person with the lowest status at the other end.
• Whilst discussing how accurate their role-playing was, incorporate the various ways we play status in
life: voice (volume, tone, articulation); personal space; eye contact; stature and stance.
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Status Exercise 2
• Divide into groups of 4 or 5. Give each group a scenario where status is important such as a political
party conference; a courtroom during a murder case; filming a soap opera at a TV studio; a life-saving
operation in a hospital; or a palace dinner party.
• Distribute cards as before but, this time, the students must not look at their own card. Attach this card
to the student via a safety pin, or elastic band on their forehead, so everyone but the student knows
what card they have been allotted.
• Then ask the students to improvise the scenario giving consideration to the other actors’ statuses.
• After the improvisation ask the students to guess their own card allocation from how much, or little,
status the other actors gave them.
Discussion Points
• Discuss how status is relative in society as demonstrated in Government Inspector. For example the
civil servants (the Judge, the Charity Commissioner, the Schools Superintendent, the Postmaster) all
occupy high status roles within the community, but are subordinate to the Mayor.
• Discuss how status shifts throughout the play and how this results in comedy. For example, the Mayor
plays very high status in the early scenes, but very low status to Khlestakov when he mistakes him for
the inspector. Popular culture often uses the device of someone playing very high status to a stranger,
before they realise themselves to be vastly inferior to that person, usually through a case of mistaken
identity i.e. mistaking the owner of a company for the receptionist.
• Discuss how Gogol portrays Osip’s status. Although he is a servant, he plays relatively high status. The
depiction of a wily or lazy servant is a stock character frequently used by dramatists for comic effect.
In Commedia Dell’Arte, this stock character was often represented by the Harlequin or Brighella.
Recent examples include Blackadder and endless waiters and bank clerks in films and sitcoms.
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10. Bibliography
Books
Changing Stages: A View of British Theatre in the Twentieth Century by Richard Eyre and Nicholas
Wright (Bloomsbury Publishing PLC: 2000)
The Diary of a Madman and Selected Stories by Nickolai Gogol (Penguin Classics: 2006)
Imperial Russia 1801-1905 by Tim Chapman (Routledge: 2001)
Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol (Methuen: 2003)
Nikolai Gogol by Vladimir Nabokov (New Directions: 1961)
One Night Stands: A Critic’s View of Modern British Theatre by Michael Billington (Nick Hern: 2011)
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Theatre by John Russell Brown (OUP: 1995)
Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes (Metropolitan Books: 2002)
Peasant Russia, Civil War: The Volga Countryside in Revolution, 1917-21 by Orlando Figes (Weidenfeld
& Nicolson: 2001)
Internet
http://kirjasto.sci.fi/gogol.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Government_Inspector
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2005/jun/01/theatre1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Gogol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cossacks
http://socyberty.com/history/19th-century-russia/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Shcherbatov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sosloviye
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plautus
Video and DVD
Sommersby, dir. John Amiel (1993)
34