Heavy-Handed Go At Russian Comedy

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31114, 18 July 1966, Page 12

Heavy-Handed Go At Russian Comedy

A heavy-handed, slapstick production of Nikolai Gogol’s “The Government Inspector” by the Christchurch Boys’ High School drama club on Saturday evening failed to provide the scintillating, if bitter, comedy intended by the Russian playwright It was a slick but shallow presentation. Some of the fault lay with the play which is a difficult one; it proved unsuitable for a school production. A comedy written in the early 1830 s

for the Russian stage, the play is a thinly-disguised attack on officialdom. A visitor to a small Russian town is mistaken for the dreaded Inspec-tor-General from Petersburg. The comedy hangs on this slender plot by the scintillating conversation and paradoxical situations which result from the obvious opportunities afforded by the mistaken identity. The sets and costuming of the production were superbly authentic. Most of the players, however, were unconvincing. Overacting and far too much movement about the stage by those not immediately involved in the action was distracting to the point of annoyance. Every actor seemed determined to extract a laugh from the audience. If the lines would not achieve this, extraordinarily inappropriate lengths were resorted to in an effort to compensate. At times the stage was a confused mass of wriggling, contriving bodies.

C. Collins worked hard as the mayor, Anton, but his lofty energetic oratory would have been more suited to a Hamlet than a befuddled anxious old man. Following his progress on the stage tired the neck muscles very qickly. One soon gave up trying. The “Inspector,” A. Bodger, tended to swallow his own speech and many of his best lines were lost in a gabble. He warmed to the part as the play developed and should improve with a more relaxed attitude during the remainder of the season.

G. Williams, who played the servant Yosif, was the best performance of the evening. Although his was only a supporting role, it was acted competently and with conviction.

The remainder of the cast would do well to remember it is the principals who control the action. Important as minor roles are, they must be subordinated to the task of complementing the comedy, and not creating it The season will end on Tuesday evening. It is to be hoped that by then the players will have learned it is Gogol who provides the laughs, not an irrevelant belch or somersault.