Chinna Palmer, Brandon E. Burton, and Elizabeth Stahlmann in a scene from Nikolai Gogol's The Inspector, newly adapted and directed by Yura Kordonsky. Yale Repertory Theatre, March 7-29, 2025. Photo © Joan Marcus.
It’s mid winter. Two lamp posts illuminate an abandoned street. Smoke drifts upwards from a sewer grate; snow softens the steps of anyone venturing out in early morning light. The first figure to appear is a man in a black coat with a yellow scarf and the head … of a rat.
More hybrids appear, people in winter coats wearing rat masks made of straw and paper and fabric. They scramble and shift, looking through trash cans and under turned over chairs. One takes out a spray can and tags a wall with “THE MAYOR IS A SON OF A…” but her graffiti is interrupted by The Mayor himself bursting onto the street.
So begins The Inspector, adapted and directed by Yura Kordonsky for the Yale Repertory Theatre this spring. A new adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s 1836 The Government Inspector , the work shines with nuance and humor, while still loyal to the themes of corruption and deception of the original text.
It runs through March 29 at the Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel St. in downtown New Haven. Tickets and more information are available here.
Members of the company of Nikolai Gogol's The Inspector, newly adapted and directed by Yura Kordonsky. Yale Repertory Theatre, March 7-29, 2025. Photo © Joan Marcus.
The story takes place in an anonymous town where the Mayor (Brandon E. Burton) leads (read: tolerates) a motley administration comprising the Director of Public Health (Whitney Andrews), School Superintendent (John Evans Reese), Postmaster (Annelise Lawson), Doctor (Grayson Richmond), and Judge (Darius Sakui). Their sleepy governance is interrupted with the inciting announcement: “An Inspector is coming.”
With the threat of oversight on the horizon, the officials take stock of their efficacy and fraudulence. Determined to prove themselves worthy, the town commits to winning over this inspector by any means necessary.
The result is a timely and funny examination of power. For what starts as fawning and complimentary meals becomes bribery, infidelity, backstabbing and finally the sacrifice of what is most precious to each of them.
But this is no morality tale. The characters are broad and endearing even in their absurdity, and it allows those in the audience to swallow hard truths about ourselves. Kordonsky’s version invites us to ask, who do we give power to and why?
Elizabeth Stahlmann, Chinna Palmer, Samuel Douglas, and Brandon E. Burton in a scene from Nikolai Gogol's The Inspector, newly adapted and directed by Yura Kordonsky. Yale Repertory Theatre, March 7-29, 2025. Photo © Joan Marcus.
When Burton’s Mayor, played with the charm and slime of a true politician, equivocates “There are sins and sins,” he lays out the relative moralism that will be the town’s downfall. For indeed, the man they believe to be the Inspector is a fake, and his crime against the townspeople is not one outsized action, but a series of escalating transgressions that lead to corruption and betrayal.
It's a success of the production that the false inspector Ivan Khlestakov, performed deftly by Samuel Douglas, is not played as a true villain. The audience first meets Ivan in the midst of an athletic tantrum where he complains desperately to his servant Osip (Nomè SiDone) about his hunger and his empty coffers.
Hunger seems to be Ivan’s driving force, though like Erysichthon, he is impossible to sate. When SiDone’s grounded and long-suffering Osip scrounges up something for Ivan to eat, his response is “What! Only two courses?”
He is not greedy: he’s starving. When strangers offer him sustenance (in many forms) he takes it with relish. At one point, mad with his own fiction, he climbs on top of a table, gives pronouncements, and is returned to the ground being carried like Jesus from the cross. Despite Ivan’s insatiable desires, Douglas wins the audience over with excellent comedic timing and an embodied performance with a trickster spirit.
The devotion of the townspeople to his false authority seems to have no limits. Swathing himself in a gold robe, Ivan greets each of them and demands larger and larger bribes. But Ivan’s entitlement takes a turn when he starts to take more than money.
We see this in a disturbing scene between Ivan and the Doctor (Grayson Richmond). The Doctor is monolingual German. Richmond plays this with authenticity and good humor, but when the Doctor is moved to confess his life story to Ivan, we see a different side of them both. The Doctor is deeply heartbroken, his story is clearly hard to tell. He repeats “mein Vater und meine Mutter” over and over again through tears.
To which Ivan, who definitely does not speak German says “I couldn’t have put it better myself. Danke.” and extracts himself as quickly as possible. Like many in power, he is neither equipped for nor interested in alleviating the pain of someone he does not understand.
Members of the company of Nikolai Gogol's The Inspector, newly adapted and directed by Yura Kordonsky. Yale Repertory Theatre, March 7-29, 2025. Photo © Joan Marcus.
The physicality of all the performers enlivens the entire production. This is a world of run not walk: when the characters trip, they fall to the ground. When they hop, they leap. This is inhabited beautifully by the Mayor’s wife Anna (Elizabeth Stahlmann) and daughter Marya (Chinna Palmer). The two spend their first few scenes atop ladders desperately trying to catch up on the action of the rest of the play. When they finally come to ground, Palmer inhabits an adolescent whimsy while Staklmann brings moxie and verve into the mix.
In each group scene, you can look anywhere on the stage and see a character that is well lived in and carefully wrought. Piotr Bobchinsky (Edoardo Benzoni) and Piotr Dobchinsky (Malik James) are particularly dynamic as co-dependent town citizens. They’re energetic balance and perfectly timed bits add heart-wrenching comedic suffering.
The scenic design by Silin Chen, meanwhile, is essential to the success of the production. The live elements such as the snow or the functioning laundry line give the stage a tactile feel. The design takes advantage of the height of the stage and the depth of the whole theater. The way the set encroaches into the audience further drives home that the audience is a part of the story, there is no separation between these characters and us. Not to mention an ever-looming chandelier threatening audience and performers alike with its grandeur.
Flawless costuming by KT Farmer, meanwhile, makes the characters feel both contemporary and timeless. Sound design by Minjae Kim 김민재 is used to great effect in its ominous composure and strategic silences. Masha Tsimring lighting moves seamlessly with subtle shadow play and delightful surprises—such as light coming up from a sewer grate or in the creepy chandelier’s star moment.
The specificity of the direction and adaptation allow for The Inspector’s message to ring through. We all bestow power unto someone. We are all susceptible to greed. The best we can do is try not to deceive ourselves—but to look reality in the face.