Der Revisor — 2023

by Nikolaj Gogol,
Wuppertaler Bühnen

Alarm! An auditor is on his way to the city! The officials of the municipality are in an uproar, for they know about the corruption and sloppiness within their institutions. This auditor is travelling incognito and following secret instructions. He may already have arrived ...

In fact, the minor official Khlestakov has taken up residence in a run-down hotel. The city authorities now think he is the auditor, but Khlestakov himself has a problem: he is broke. In this respect, the visits of the extremely obsequious city leaders are very convenient for him. Everyone wants to invite him and give him money (i.e. "lend" him money). A guided tour of the city and a caviar reception are included in the programme. The supposed auditor shamelessly courts the mayor's wife and daughter. But shortly before the real auditor announces his stay in the city, Khlestakov has left in a hurry and is long gone.

Nikolai Gogol's comedy, first performed in 1836, has long since earned a place in world literature. With the means of the grotesque, it presents the stupidity, greed and venality of a civil servant city leadership.