The Government Inspector at The Estates Theatre

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2. The Government Inspector

A timeless comedy about timeless problems. Ivan Khlestakov arrives in a small provincial town and the local elite headed by the Mayor take him to be the heralded government inspector on a secret mission. Does he take bribes, or doesn’t he? A question that not only thrills the characters from Gogol’s Russian governorate but also still engages many of us when tackling everyday situations. “Five on the table in Czech” or bent football referees are just the tip of the corruption iceberg. In the Corruption Perceptions Index, issued annually by Transparency International, the Czech Republic ranks around 50th out of 159 countries, one of the worst scores among the EU 25. Citizens worldwide consider the most corrupt sectors of public life to be political parties, parliaments, the police and the judiciary. So, Khlestakov is on the take – and he’s not the only one.

Authors

• Nikolai Vassilievitch Gogol