Crystal Pite & Jonathon Young's Revisor, Sadler's Wells - ★★★★★ - Until March 5, 2020


In Gogol's satire, the revizor with a "z" is an inspector who amusingly exposes the cruelty, corruption, and duplicity present in czarist bureaucracy. The source of the fun is the old trope of mistaken identity. In Crystal Pite and Jonathan Young's wonderfully inventive production, the revisor with an "s" is the creative spirit struggling to stage the Russian author's tale, while revealing the workings of her imaginative process behind the facade of the externalised creations.The first and final sections of the piece are a clever recounting of Gogol's story with characters apparently speaking and then dancing with marionette-like movements to the spoken word. There are only undertones of music and brief interjections by the creator of this piece as she struggles to bring her vision to life. Within this frame, the next stages of the work become increasingly less driven by the word, exposing the process of creation and finally looking at its sources. Language breaks down into repeated recognitions of how the characters and their world are both external and internal to their creator. Movement predominates and is a beautiful fluid presentation of the imaginative process and its sources. This deconstruction of Gogol's work is thoroughly original and quite brilliantly performed. It should not be missed by any lover of dance and theatre.

 Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Michael Slobodian.
 Our Score:  ☆☆☆☆☆ 

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 WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE:
Until March 5, 2020
Tue - Thu: 7:30 pm
Sadler's Wells
Nearest tube: Angel
https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/2020/crystal-pite-and-jonathon-young-kidd-pivot-revisor/
Map & Location: Rosebery Ave, Clerkenwell, London EC1R 4TN, UK

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