RUSSIAN playwright Nikolai Gogol perfectly captured the pomposity, predilection for back-handers, flirtatious peccadillos and general self-aggrandisement that is universally noted in local (and national) government in his 1836 play The Government Inspector. The reality of political corruption is as timeless as it is international.
There have been many adaptations of the original (just called Inspector in Russian) and the latest comes from Philip Goulding, who subtitles the play A Little Local Difficulty. Set in a British town in the 1860s, it is all about what happens when Mayor Wyndham-Pitts hears that an inspector has been sent by the government to see how the administration is administrating. He, and his chums, the police inspector, the school head, the philanthropist and committee-woman and the caretaker, know all about how the wheels are oiled and the impediments removed … and they are in a panic that they might be found out.
When a strange man appears (apparently straight from Goldoni’s Servant of Two Masters painted by Ric Mayall), they convince themselves that he must be The Inspector, and so they set about a programme of payola. Our stranger John Petty, (played by Jamie Pullen), carries a clue in his name. He is on the run from burgeoning and advancing creditors, and is only too happy to take money from whoever offers it. Predictably, Mr Petty makes florid romantic promises to the women, takes purses from the politicians and does a runner when the going gets hot. Then the arrival of the REAL inspector is announced …
This is a very funny adaptation of a brilliantly observed play, and Philip Goulding has constructed it so that it can be performed by a flexible number of actors, giving lots of opportunity for hilarious doubling up. At Salisbury’s Studio Theatre in Ashley Road, the director George Goulding (brother of the playwright) and his versatile cast make the most of all those opportunities.
Kris Hamilton-Brain is oh-so-recognisable as the pompous mayor, with newcomer Marie Thérèse Tiernan marvellously arch and fey as his wife Anna and Emily Casselton as their petulant daughter Maria. Caroline Butcher has the quick-change roles of Phyllis Stein and the interfering know-all Mrs Robson, with Dave Simmons as the unfortunate Mr Robson, always in the way of swinging doors. Ness
Hawkins has fun as Rose Quigley, and a very different labourer, Tanner. After her memorable debut in the short play English for Pony Lovers, Aine Tiernan (Marie-Therese’s daughter) takes on three major roles in this play, as the very nosy postmaster Piers, John Petty’s conniving servant Joseph and Albert Markham.
It’s great fun, taken at high speed, and provides a chance to laugh at the machinations of venal public servants on the take.
The show continues at Studio Theatre until Saturday 18th, and a handful of tickets remain.
GP-W