Genre: Comedy
Opened 16 June 2005
Written: freely adapted from Gogol’s Russian satire The Government Inspector by David Farr
Directed: David Farr
Cast: Michael Sheen ( Carson, the UN Inspector),
Synopsis: Spotted at the Marriott by government aides in search of a decent cappuccino, a British businessman nonentity is mistaken for the dreaded UN inspector. While he exploits the situation for all it's worth, presidential panic ensues as ex-Soviet Ministers make farcical attempts to cover up the corruption that lies at the State's core.

What the critics had to say.....
NICK CURTIS for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "Never quite clever or funny enough.....Farr's production has good supporting performances, deals with the dual-language problem with admirable simplicity, and has a sting in its tail. But I'm not sure, for all its sly contemporary references, that it has any more to say to us than Gogol's original." MICHAEL BILLINGTON for THE GUARDIAN says, "There are also good things in Farr's production: not least Ti Green's set filled with a baroque imperialist nostalgia. But Farr's play veers awkwardly between a paraphrase of Gogol's original and a satire on east European capitalist chaos. In the end, it feels neither one thing nor the other and leaves one hungrily waiting for Gogol." IAN JOHNS for THE TIMES says, "Sheen is superb as a self-aggrandising fantasist...But the play often drifts between riffing on Gogol and satirising post-Soviet capitalism and dilutes each’s social sting."

External links to full reviews from popular press
The Guardian
Evening Standard
The Times

Production photo by Manuel Harlan