The Government Inspector - rehearsals

During rehearsals for The Government Inspector, we started off by doing a class read through of the play. This was to get familiar with the text and understand the concept and characters.

Once we were assigned our characters through auditioning, we started to rehearse each scene and this was useful as the whole cast was not on stage at once, so we could receive feedback from each other on improving each scene.

We used props, such as chairs to show hierarchy and power between the characters who were standing up looking down on others. We also practiced each scene and made adjustments as we went, by using Stanislavsky technique of 'Magic If' to connect with the characters and scenarios deeply.

The Government Inspector

In 1835 Gogol began writing the comedy "The Government Inspector". In early 1936, the play was premiered in Moscow and St. Petersburg. But Gogol continued to make adjustments in the text of the work until 1842, when the final version was completed.

"The Government Inspector" is a quite innovative play. Gogol for the first time created a social comedy with no love line. Courtship of the Inspector for Anna Andreevna and Maria Antonovna is rather a parody of high feelings. There is also no positive character in the comedy. When a writer was accused of this, he replied that the main positive hero of "The Government Inspector" is laughter. The composition is unusual, because there is no traditional display. From the first sentence the mayor begins the plot exposition. Final dumb scene surprised many theater critics. Earlier no one used this technique in drama.

In the play, Gogol raised essences of Russian life: government, medicine, court, education, post office, police, merchants. In "The Government Inspector" a lot of unsightly features of modern life such as bribery and neglect of duty, embezzlement, ambition and passion for gossip, envy and squealing, boast and stupidity, petty vindictiveness. "The Government Inspector" is a real mirror of the Russian society.