UW Drama presents The Government Inspector

[Robin Atchison]

UW Drama invites you to our fall term production of The Government
Inspector, a satirical comedy by Russian playwright and novelist Nikolai
Gogol.

It tells the story of what happens when the Mayor and several other
self-important officials of a provincial Russian town mistake a small-time
con artist for an important government official. Hypocrisies are exposed and
foolishnesses revealed as the officials offer increasingly extravagant gifts
in order to placate and impress their visitor, while the visitor becomes
increasingly reckless in his greed.  Gogol succeeded in rendering
contemptible and ludicrous the official life of Tsarist Russia. The
publication of the play led to a great outcry in the reactionary press.
Surprisingly, it took the personal intervention of Tsar Nicholas I, against
whom some of the blatant criticism in the  play had been directed, to have
it staged. When the play premiered at the Alexandrinsky Theatre, in Saint
Petersburg, in 1836, the Tsar was among the first to see it. He was said to
have commented that the play ridiculed everyone-most of all himself. And he
still loved it!

The Government Inspector, directed by James Warren, will be performed
nightly November 12-14 and 19-21 at 8:00 pm in the Theatre of the Arts,
Modern Languages Building, University of Waterloo. 

Box Office: 519 888-4908. Tickets: $12 general, $10 students/seniors.

 

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