THE UN INSPECTOR
Lyttelton Theatre

GOGOL wrote this satire in 1836 and David Farr has “freely adapted and directed it”.
In the original a group of corrupt rural Russian officials get word of a visit from a government inspector.
They believe he has arrived incognito and assume he is a travelling conman. Indulging him to the hilt and showering him with bribes, they hope for a whitewash report which will get back to faraway St Petersburg.
This time the action is set in a former Soviet republic and the opulent golden palace of President Anton Skvosnik.
Kenneth Cranham, the president, ducks and dives as his cabinet of corrupt sycophants and incompetents outline the deceptions, diversions and misappropriation of huge grants from the IMF and World Bank.
Meanwhile in the Marriott hotel, property speculators Martin Gamon (Michael Sheen) and his sidekick Sammy (Nicholas Tennant) have exhausted their credit and are expecting expulsion or jail.
To the regime, these are obviously the investigators from the UN, ingeniously disguised. After a presidential visit gushing with flattery, the pair are quickly installed in the Presidential Palace.
Martin rules the roost without questioning his luck, after all he boasts: “I was the supervisor in the Clapham branch of Foxtons the estate agents for one afternoon.”
Sheen, in a wild and manic scene, is reminiscent of Danny Kaye in the 1949 film The Inspector General and no praise could be higher.
Outside the palace revolution is simmering, whilst inside the sexual passion is in the hands of Anna (Geraldine James), the first lady, and Maria, her daughter, feuding over Martin. James is at her most exquisite and deadly.
The eventual arrival of the real UN inspector – Deus ex machina – it is visually rich, bubbling with character and relevance.
Farr directs at a cracking pace.
One of the 12 basic jokes is mistaken identity and as Gogol wrote about the Martin character: “He is not a liar by trade, he forgets he is lying and then believes what he is saying.” Apply that to who you will. If you go, enjoy the madness which gets near the truth. Three cheers for Travelex which is subsidising £10 seats.

In rep until October 5
0207 452 3000