Government Inspector – A Closer Look With Lucy Alder

MA Drama Writing student Lucy Alder discusses the world of the Government Inspector and how director John Young has brought the play into the 21st century.

We’re no strangers to corruption. In 2020, our elected officials partied while the rest of the nation isolated in their homes. Nikolai Gogol’s 1836 comedy, Government Inspector, satires a corrupt government mistaking a well-dressed scrounger for an incognito inspector. The Russian play depicts power abuse with an unerring, yet hilarious, tone, making it feel as relevant today as it did nearly 200 years ago. Corruption, after all, is timeless.

19th-century Russia was an extremely hierarchical society, with serfs at the bottom and the Tsar at the top. Local autonomy flourished in distant corners of the empire, far from the reach of St Petersburg. Government Inspector drops us into a time and place where lining your pockets and those of your mates is rife—power lies in the hands of a few individuals. Plus, it’s easy to get away with misconduct when you live in an empire 9000km across.

Born in Ukraine in 1809, Nikolai Gogol first found recognition with a collection of short stories before becoming a playwright and novelist. Despite its controversial depiction of bureaucrats, Government Inspector was surprisingly championed by the Tsar, who attended its premiere in St Petersburg. Though many argue that the play is a microcosm of Russian hierarchy, the Tsar did not draw such parallels and felt “it is only a cheerful mockery of bad provincial officials”.

However, the play’s reception among real government officials was less than favourable, and Gogol felt disgruntled by the mixed critical response.

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School has chosen Government Inspector as it is an excellent opportunity for actors to demonstrate their craft. The school prepares actors to take on big stories with big themes, and this satirical comedy is no exception.

Director John Young has brought the play away from stuffy 19th-century smoking jackets and drawing rooms, suspending it in a sense of timelessness much closer to the present. This new setting emphasises the play’s political relevance. After all, wherever (or whenever) there’s power and money, there will always be people who abuse it. Young has also taken the Mayor and her pack of lackeys out of the provincial and into the city. Flipping the idea that these officials are only getting away with their crimes because they’re out in the middle of nowhere. Now it’s happening very close – around the corner even? There’s also a female Mayor and a diverse local government around her – a casting choice that not only addresses the gender imbalance in the original play but also reflects that elite spaces aren’t entirely made up of white men anymore. Women are complicated leaders, too.

Government Inspector is a comedy with teeth – it’s hilarious but with a bite.

The brilliance of the play is that you will be laughing your socks off at some very dubious actions. Yet there will be a creeping feeling that these characters, like their real-life counterparts, are playing a game in which the cost is people’s lives.

Catch Government Inspector at Tobacco Factory Theatres November 8th-15th 2025.