On February 16 and 17, the legendary Alexandrinsky Theatre (St.Petersburg) performs the classical “The Government Inspector” directed by People's artist of Russia Valery Fokin, on the stage of the Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre. The performance opens the farewell tour of “The Government Inspector”. The play will only be performed in Krasnoyarsk, Yekaterinburg and Surgut.

The Alexandrinsky Theatre’s “The Government Inspector” is acknowledged as one of the best theatrical shows in the world.  It was the very first play Valery Fokin directed in the Alexandrinka, its opening performance took place on October 5, 2002.

The Valery Fokin’s performance is based upon the satirical play by Nicolai Gogol and the scenic version by Vsevolod Meyerhold and  Mikhail Korenev (GosTIM, 1926). Valery Fokin is a known expert on Gogol’s works - this is the third time he directed the immortal satirical play. And this is the tenth version of “The Government Inspector” staged in the Alexandrinsky Theatre. The very first performance of the Gogol’s play took place on the stage of  the Alexandrinsky Theatre on April 19, 1836. The author himself, Nikolai Gogol, took part in staging the show.

The modern performance by Valery Fokin won The State Prize of the Russian Federation, the National Theatre Award Golden Mask, the highest theatrical award of St.Petersburg “Golden Soffit”. Scenography of the show was created by Alexander Borovsky. Music was written by Leonid Desyatnikov. Honoured Artist of Russia Aleksey Devotchenko (1965-2014) was the first to have performed the part of Khlestakov.  Nowadays the part is played by Honoured Artist of Russia Vitaliy Kovalenko and Dmitri Lyisenkov. At the farewell performances Khlestakov is played by Dmitri Lyisenkov (Vitaliy Kovalenko plays the part of Lyapkin-Tyapkin).  The part of the Governor is always played by People's Artist of Russia Sergei Parshin.

Three archetypes are personified in the performance: the images of the very first opening performance of the play, reminiscences to the Meyerhold’s performance of 1926, and the reflections of St.Petersburg, the mythological city as Gogol depicted it as well as the modern one. It’s not for nothing that “The Government Inspector” is always considered to be a topical play - it’s modern for any period of the world’s history. Still, “times, they’re a-changing”, and the show staged in 2002 now needs another version, more relevant to the modern epoch. The Alexandrinsky Theatre is going to stage the new scenic version of Gogol’s “The Government Inspector”. The legendary “The Government Inspector” of 2002, one of the best theatrical performances of Russia, comes off the Alexandrinsky Theatre’s repertoire at the end of the current 262nd theatrical season.  On June 28, 2018, the tenth Alexandrinka’s version of “The Government Inspector” to be performed for the last time on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theatre. After that it will stay as a crucial milestone in the history of the Alexandrinsky Theatre and one of the most important theatrical performances in the history of the Russian art life.

More details about the show:  www.alexandrinsky.ru

The performance is a part of the “Grand Tour” programme of the Federal Centre for Support of Tour Activities of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.