Nikolai Gogol's "The Government Inspector" is the most important play for the creative path of director Valery Fokin, for the Alexandrinsky Theatre and for Russian culture as a whole. And this cannot be considered an exaggeration.
For the first time, one of the major plays of the Russian classical repertoire was presented on the Alexandrinsky stage, and Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol himself took part in the preparation of the performance. The premiere took place almost 190 years ago - 19 April 1836. And from the very beginning, “The Government Inspector” rightly has the glory of "state play", invariably discovering the actual content in new eras. At the Alexandrinsky Theatre, Valery Fokine's “The Government Inspector with a sequel” in 2026 will be the 11th stage version of Nikolai Gogol's immortal comedy, and for the director it will be the fourth reference to the play.
Valery Fokin is rightly considered one of the best connoisseurs and interpretators of Nikolai Gogol's work. His previous production of “The Government Inspector” was released in 2002 and was not only Valery Fokin's first production at the Alexandrinsky Theatre, but also the director's first experience in St Petersburg. It was this production that defined the path of development of the country's main national dramatic stage with the beginning of the new century and opened the theatre's scientific and practical programme "New Life of Tradition". For fifteen seasons Valery Fokine's first St Petersburg production has remained one of the most beloved by the public both on its own stage and on tour in Russia and abroad. In the years since its premiere, society has changed: in June 2018, the play was performed for the last time and forever established itself in the history of the stage as one of the most important productions of the 21st century. Time demands a stage version of a great play that is in tune with the era.
In Fokin's new large-scale, scenographically spectacular and musical production, as in our reality, many things will intertwine, intermingle and suddenly turn into their complete opposite... Light, almost vaudevillian humour will turn into drama. Anecdote on the verge of paradox - into irrational fear of approaching disaster. And the signs of classical, close to archaic theatre, will suddenly turn into the images of today. They will turn around, deceive, and everything will appear not what it seems....
“The Government Inspector with a sequel” will be the central event of the general programme of anniversary events in honour of the 270th anniversary of the theatre and the 80th anniversary of its President V.V. Fokin.
