Russia’s past and present mingle in UC Davis production of Gogol’s satire

Nikolai Gogol’s “The Government Inspector” — a savage satire from 1836, involving rampant greed and corruption in Czarist Russia — is one of those plays that you read about in history books, but seldom get to see on stage.

Americans still read the novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy (who came after Gogol), and the great plays Anton Chekhov wrote between 1896 and 1904 are still staged in these parts (witness the Art Theater of Davis production of “Uncle Vanya” this fall).

Gogol’s plays don’t get done nearly as often — though the current production of “The Government Inspector” by the UC Davis department of theater and dance makes a strong case that the play is as funny (and seditious) now as it was 179 years ago.

Read the complete review of UC Davis’s production of “Government Inspector.”