Widely held to have led the realist revolution in Russian drama, Nikoliai Gogol (1809-1852) liberated comedy from a tradition of didacticism and sentimentality. The Government Inspector, his masterpiece, created such a furore when it was first performed in 1835 that Gogol was driven into exile.
In this classic satire on human vanity, the corrupt, self-serving officials of a small town in Tsarist Russia mistake a penniless clerk from Moscow for a government inspector. Through the wild inventiveness of Gogol’s comic fantasy the play becomes a celebration of the grotesque and absurd elements in human nature and remains one of the greatest comedies of all time.

METHUEN DRAMA STUDENT EDITIONS are expertly annotated texts of a wide range of plays from the modern and classic repertoires. A well as the complete text of the play itself, this volume contains:

• an introduction outlining the plays themes, context and performance history - the full text of the play - extensive textual notes - questions for further study.