It's open season for lampooning greed, corruption and stupidity when the GACCI Players present, The Government Inspector.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
The local theatre troupe have chosen Russian dramatist Nikolai Gogol's satirical play about politics and corruption for their latest production which will be presented at the Gloucester Senior Citizens Centre from June 20-22.
Working from a translation by David Harrower, director Wendy Buswell has re-imagined the play's original setting of 19th century Russia into a more contemporary regional Australia.
Wendy has assembled a cast of 13 players for the production, drawn from GACCI regulars with the addition of some more recent arrivals to the group.
"There's a lovely man named John Galagher who's had some experience overseas who's a real find, and this will be his first time as part of a GACCI production," Wendy said.
"Then there's people who've been involved in GACCI Players for ages; people like Maureen (Mo) Hjorth who's one of the other leads and also one of the stalwarts of the GACCI Players, along with Dave Keen who is also in it.
"It's a really nice mix of people who've had lots of experience and some people who have had no experience, so I was very excited when we could get that whole group of people."
There's been a number of translations and I think the one that I've chosen is quite modern anyway so that's helped in us being able to transpose it into an Australian country town.
- Director, Wendy Buswell
Originally published in 1836, The Government Inspector revolves around a case of mistaken identity when the inhabitants of a rural town believe that a new arrival is a government inspector travelling incognito.
The townsfolk go to extraordinary lengths to ingratiate themselves to the stranger, in the process exposing their greed and foolishness while trying to gain his favour.
Despite the work being almost two centuries old, Wendy believes that the themes and strong character archetypes remain valid to this day.
"Another reason I thought the play would be very good was because the characters are very well written and speak for themselves," Wendy said.
"It's amazing how relevant it is when you're reading it, with these people getting "backhanders" into their pocket and how easily fooled people are when they think their job is on the line.
"There's been a number of translations and I think the one that I've chosen is quite modern anyway so that's helped in us being able to transpose it into an Australian country town."
The Government Inspector will be presented by GACCI Players at the Gloucester Senior Citizens Centre from June 20-22.
