The Government Inspector

Overview

The show opens with a disclaimer: those who’ve come expecting The Philadelphia Story are going to be bitterly disappointed. Those who’ve come for a faithful re-telling of The Government Inspector might be a little disappointed too. But despite all the determined attempts to lower expectations, the show that follows is in no need of such qualifications.

All this confusion stems from the fact that the Malthouse were originally set to perform The Philadelphia Story, but following an issue with rights, director Simon Stone and his cast instead turned to a new adaptation of Gogol’s classic. The original story is a biting satire on bureaucracy — a Parks and Recreation for 19th Century Russia — whose plot revolves around a low-level clerk mistaken for a high-ranking official. But in this adaptation, Stone and his cast choose to transplant the confusion of their own rehearsal room onto the stage.

Each member of the ensemble (Fayssal Bazzi, Mitchell Butel, Gareth Davies, Robert Menzies, Zahra Newman, Eryn-Jean Norvill, and Greg Stone) plays an exaggerated version of themselves. Newman also appears as the theatre’s Hispanic cleaner after Zahra bails on the other actors, and when Davies chokes to death on some activated almonds he returns as the hapless actor Frank. Without giving away any spoilers, the way that the actors manage to confuse Frank with the famous Uzbeki director they’ve hired is exquisite; from this perfect moment of misunderstanding The Government Inspector descends into ever-more excruciating farce.

The cast are in excellent form. While much of the comedy stems from the actors’ willingness to eviscerate their own egos, choices like Fayssal Bazzi’s more understated performance create a well-rounded dynamic by contrast. Davies is devastatingly funny as the poor schmuck Frank, never more pathetic than caught in a car crash of a conversation with his ex-girlfriend, reduced to drinking vodka from his "water bottle”.

However, many of the jokes rely heavily on an audience’s knowledge of the Australian theatre scene — whether it’s jibes at Menzies’ identity as an “elderly character actor”, or Butell’s fanciful acceptance speech at the Helpmann Awards. It’s difficult to tell whether these are in-jokes which could exclude a broader audience from the show because the generosity of these self-deprecating performances allows a comedy of ego and misunderstanding to transcend the play’s more obscure references.

Although the work is hugely entertaining, elements towards its end hint at something more complex. In its third act (again, without giving too much away), the play is performed as a musical, in the style of a grotesque operetta. Some of the funniest and most beautiful scenes arrive here, like the “torch song” performed by Butell and stand-out singer Newman. But as entertaining as this musical sequence is there was a point where it almost felt deliberately over-long. Without an unfair amount of guessing at Stone’s motivations, the length of and commitment to this musical sequence came across like a comment on his own notoriety for adaptations that valorise entertainment at the expense of fidelity to an original text.

Coming from someone who’s expressed his frustration with theatre that doesn’t live up to the possibilities of the form it’s difficult to overlook intentional irony in this dumb, fun, final section. But the beauty of this Government Inspector is that it defies and welcomes this kind of cerebral engagement, balancing its in-jokes with a comedy of sheer humanity, and making for deeply satisfying farce.

For more background on the production, read our interview with actor Gareth Davies.