THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR
THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR, Belvoir and Malthouse Theatre at Belvoir, 30 March-18 May 2014. Photography by Lisa Tomasetti. Above: Zahra Newman and Gareth Davies; right: Mitchell Butel.
It would be difficult to know nothing about this production before its opening in Sydney because it's already mildly notorious. First of all it was supposed to be The Philadelphia Story - but then that was kyboshed by the sudden appearance of a hitherto unknown co-author of the play: the credited playwright's wife. At the last minute (how come?) her estate refused permission to Belvoir and Malthouse to allow magpie-director Simon Stone to wreak his usual havoc on the original and suddenly there was a gaping hole in each company's schedule. It's a play in itself, really. Well, a drama anyway or perhaps a crackpot comedy.
So what would you do? Well, you enlist a co-writer in Emily Barclay, then you get an apparently reluctant Robert Menzies in full priest garb to front the audience and tell them they're not getting what they're here for and paid for; nor will they be getting what they thought the alternative might be. He invites the disgruntled to leave but of course no one does and he gets reassuring laughter instead. It's a simple smart charm offensive and the audience is immediately onside and ready for anything. And anything is Ralph Myers' balletic revolve beginning one of its many pirouettes and suddenly we're backstage on the now redundant Philadelphia Story set. The actors are gathered ready to begin rehearsals and are in various states of hysteria because there is No Show. At a table, looking suicidal, is Zahra Newman (engaged to play Philadelphia's role of a lifetime Tracy Lord) she's clad in a glamorous evening gown befitting an American socialite of the 1940s and that's not the worst of it.
It is announced that their director - Simon Stone - has just walked out. Opening night is approaching like an express train from the other end of a short, dark tunnel. Like chooks with their heads chopped off, the actors cast about for solutions. Mitchell Butel - channelling his tribe of inner demons - grabs the lifeline of Playschool and a bumblebee outfit; the others savour the moments of despair and rage. They talk over, under and through one another - it's all too human and very funny.
We may never know quite why (the real) Stone decided it would be a good idea to substitute Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector, for the classic American comedy, but he did. And it was an inspired decision and the resulting flung-together, actor-incited confection is inspired too. Eryn-Jean Norvill - a TV soapie star who doesn't know her Gogol from her Google - is at one end of the spectrum of actor types. She's the butt of some delicious theatrical jibes because she'll just parachute to safety on some horrible hit show. Fayssal Bazzi is going to be okay, says another, because he's got the ethnic card to play. And so it goes until someone has the idea of contacting a famous director from Uzbekistan who did a marvellous production of War and Peace - and offer him the job of directing The Government Inspector.
To their delirious relief, word ("da") comes from the apparently famous Seyfat Babayev that he is on his way. The scene is set for glorious cracks at the expense of some of our theatre luminaries' worship of Euro-auteurs and also sets in motion the story of The Government Inspector when a hopeless actor (Gareth Davies) whose girlfriend has chucked him out turns up at the theatre with his bags and is discovered by the Hispanic cleaning lady (Zahra Newman) and finally, is mistaken for …
There is music by Stefan Gregory, choreography by Lucy Guerin, (yes, really), cleverly unobtrusvie lighting by Paul Jackson and equally unobtrusive and therefore excellent costumes by Mel Page. And the kind of crazed implausibility you could only find in a nation whose leader has just turned back the clock fifty years and reinvented Sirs and Dames. Each actor - including Greg Stone whose furious dignity is fatally compromised by lost trousers - has been encouraged, perhaps by sheer fright or the freedom of imminent death on stage, to unleash their unter and alter egos and really go for it. At the same time, the discipline and technical expertise are exhilarating: Over The Top has never been so beautifully controlled for maximum laughter and farcical effect.
There are more twists and turns than seem humanly possible. You can read as much or as little into this play on play and copyrights and rights as you wish. There's also the matter of gullibility and emperor's new clothes if you have a spare moment. Meanwhile, the boldness and cleverness are intoxicating, as are the performances. Sydney is being treated to some brilliant farce and comedy at the moment - and here's another. The Government Inspector is a dazzling, non-stop gift of entertainment that you should give yourself and anyone else you really like. Tickets will be selling fast - don't miss out.
