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How do you make a play written in 1836 not only relevant to a 2016 audience but also as funny, vibrant and as out-and-out fabulous as anything else out there? Get Roxana Gilbert and her team of disabled and able-bodied actors in to take Gogol’s classic satire, The Government Inspector, on to The Liverpool Everyman stage and allow them to let rip, that’s how.
It isn’t difficult to see where John Cleese and Connie Booth got the idea from for their classic episode of Fawlty Towers, in which Bernard Cribbins is at first doted upon and then ridiculed when discovered not to be all Basil assumes him to be.
This production of the play that lampoons political corruption in Czarist Russia, however, has everything The Hotel Inspector episode delivers and more, with a quite stunning cast and performances laced with the magic ingredients of zest, talent and comic timing that is all inspiring.
Top of the list is David Carlyle, whose Mayor is every bit as slimy and smiley as any self-deserving leader needs to be, but with an edge of nastiness that is quite superbly put across. Anna, his wife, played by Kiruna Stamell and daughter, Maria, played by Francesca Mills, are an absolute treat to watch; their interactions and misappropriations sparkling like gems in the cold Siberian snow so that when they aren’t on stage, things can – though they shouldn’t – seem a little flat in their wake.
As Khlestakov, The mistakenly assumed Inspector himself, Robin Morrisey is word perfect and provides a performance that is mesmeric as it is hilarious, whereas Michael Keane’s manservant Osip is every bit as hilarious as Marty Feldman’s Igor in Young Frankenstein.
What truly works with this production of The Government Inspector – and why Si8lbert should be truly lauded – is the manner in which all just about all manner of physical disability are so seamlessly weaved into the action, so that we as an audience no longer really notice that there are signers or subtitles delivering what are a huge amount of words. For this, if for nothing else, Ramps ont the Moon deserve every plaudit they receive and more.
Not since Kneehigh’s Dead Dog in a Suitcase has there been as zany or as funny a dark comedy been staged at The Liverpool Everyman. With a set that is crammed with style, practicality and room upon which the actors can breathe – and upon which there isn’t an inch that is wasted – The Government Inspector is a show very definitely not to be missed.
The Government Inspector
The Liverpool Everyman Theatre
June 1 – June 11
Director: Roxana Silbert
Producer: Birmingham Repertory / Ramps on the Moon
Cast Includes: David Carlyle, Robin Morrisey, Sophie Stone, Kiruna Stamell, Francesca Mills, Rachel Denning, Michael Keane, Stephen Collins, Rhona McKenzie
Running Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
PR Rating: ***** Fabulous Frenetic Fun