More Top Picks Speed Queen Vs Maytag Dryers
player ready...At first Director Don Haefliger wasn’t sure if now is the time to restage “The Government Inspector.”
Independent Players first produced the classic satire in March 2020, but the pandemic forced the show to close early abruptly after one week. The Elgin-based theater company decided it would do the show again when it could.
Once live performances started again, the show was planned for a spring run, but Haefliger began to question if they should move forward with the show, given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine before coming to a realization.
“A play about corruption in Russian government is kind of relevant,” he said.
The new production of ‘The Government Inspector” runs April 22-May 7 at Elgin Art Showcase. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets are available on the Independent Players’ website or at the door (cash or check only).
“It’s such a good show, and it’s one I always wanted Independent Players to do,” Haefliger said.
The play features seven of the cast members from IP’s 2020 production, along with eight new actors.
“It’s a slightly different show because we have eight different actors in a lot of parts,” Haefliger said. “I think it’s going to be as good as the original one. It’s just going to be a little different. They’re just different personalities and they’re playing the roles a little bit differently. It’s fun to be doing it again. It’s such a fun show.”
First written by Nikolai Gogol in Russian in 1836, the play satirizes greed and political corruption in Imperial Russia. Over the years the work has been translated and adapted numerous times for stage and screen. For this production, Independent Players is using the adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher.
“It’s been modernized a little bit from the other versions I’m aware of and used before,” Haefliger said. “In my opinion it seems pretty relevant in today’s world.”
A comedy of errors, the play centers on the leaders in a small town in Russia, who are informed the central government is sending out a government inspector to inspect towns in the area.
“The mayor of the town finds that out and then he tells all the people that run various agencies in the little town that they got to really step it up because they’ve been pretty lax,” Haefliger said. “Plus they have to cover up the fact they’ll take bribes from people.”
When two townspeople say there is a man at the local inn that has been there for a week, everyone thinks the inspector has arrived.
“The mayor goes there and invites him to come and stay in his house,” Haefliger said.
Once there, the various town officials try to win the favor of “the inspector” by giving him “gifts” that are really bribes. The townspeople are happy because they think their local mayor will become an important figure in the government, but everything and everybody may not be as they seem.
“It’s extremely funny and these characters are very unique and interesting people,” Haefliger said.
One of Haefliger’s favorite plays, it’s one “that has a lot to say about a lot of different things,” he said.
Looking at current events in Russia, “we’re seeing corruption at work,” he said, in which people are afraid to speak up.
“It’s the same with this mayor,” he said. “They’re all kind of afraid of him. And so they kowtow and kiss up to him and stuff. And that’s especially when the fake inspector is just grabbing rubles like crazy from everybody.”
‘The Government Inspector’
When: April 22-May 7
More Top Picks Best Adjustable Bed Tables For Reading
Where: Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division St., Elgin
Tickets: $20 adults; $15 seniors and students
Information: 847-697-7374; independentplayers.org
Kathy Cichon is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News.