The Government Inspector

The Milwaukee Rep opens its main stage season strongly this week, with what could potentially be its best comedy production of 2009/2010, the Jeffery Hatcher play The Government Inspector. Nikolai Gogol conceived the story based on literary giant Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, who told Gogol that he had once been mistaken for a government inspector, a situation that led to some strange behavior from those around him. Gogol wove the idea into a clever political satire featuring a cast of corrupt officials scrambling to cover up questionable activities when they hear of the imminent arrival of the title character. An unsuspecting civil servant is wrongly assumed to be the inspector, and comic mayhem ensues. Hatcher’s update of the play is sharp and funny, so the Rep has a lot to work with.