It’s a slightly surreal time to be a theatre-goer in London. Two of the most exciting productions running at the moment both trace descents into the more disconcerting reaches of human fantasy. But, while Richard Jones’s production of The Government Inspector at the Young Vic turns Gogol’s political satire into the blithest of comic capers, the absurdist nightmare of a somnolent, small town, small time bureaucrat, Arthur Schnitzler’s Dream Story, at the Gate is an altogether darker take on the boundaries of sexual pathology.
In The Government Inspector, a group of corrupt town bureaucrats discover that St. Petersburg is sending an incognito inspector to check up on them. As soon as a bankrupt, gambling dandy checks into the local hotel, all swagger but nary a sixpence, the assorted crew assume that he must be the mystery man, and chaos breaks out as they try to win his approval.
The Young Vic’s production has garnered plenty of publicity for planting Julian Barratt in a leading role of The Mayor, plucked from the podium of TV comedy popularity but with professional stage experience of absolutely zero.
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