Directed by Yury Butusov, Winner of the Golden Mask Award

A Groundbreaking Interpretation of Gogol's Masterpiece

Stage Russia HD Presents

The Government Inspector

(In Russian with Chinese subtitles)

Yury Butusov’s award-winning production of Nikolai Gogol’s classic work delves into the dual impossibilities of accepting reality and escaping from it. As with many of Butusov’s stagings, chaos and pathos are seamlessly interwoven, with art presented as both freeing and healing. Featuring Konstantin Raikin and Timofey Tribuntsev. Filmed before a live audience from the Satirikon Theatre in Moscow.

Yury Butusov on “The Government Inspector.”: “Gogol’s play has long been a myth... And, in general, everyone already understands what it’s about... Of course, this is a play about Russia, about power, about sins and retribution. But I wanted the play to be about what the play “The Government Inspector” does to us, what thoughts and feelings it gives rise to in us. It has long been obvious to me that it is not we who choose the play, but it chooses us when we need it. I hope this performance is about the ineradicable thirst for reality, about the search for paradise, freedom as the only true human value. There is no protest in this performance, there is only unimaginable surprise at human nature, there is only longing for time that is passing, whether we like it or not... I would like this to be a story about how art can heal reality, heal life, heal people ..."