REVISOR BY CRYSTAL PITE AND JONATHON YOUNG

BBC Four, 10.00pm

It’s not just lockdown that can prevent us from going to the theatre. When Revisor made its UK debut at Sadler’s Wells in London, it ran for just three nights in March – meaning that not even many dance lovers who live in the southeast will have had a chance to catch it, let alone those who aren’t based within easy distance of the capital. So this BBC Four showing is a welcome one, kicking off a new season of dance-themed programming.

Revisor is a production that lends itself well to television, combining farcical comedy, via lip-synced lines, with the exaggerated, unnaturally fluid movement of cartoon characters. It’s the much-anticipated co-creation by choreographer Crystal Pite and dramatist Jonathon Young, which is based on Nikolai Gogol’s satirical play The Government Inspector, a comedy of errors about the much-feared arrival of an inspector to a small Russian town (Revizor is its Russian title; the slight spelling change is itself a reference to the play). In a five-star review, the Telegraph’s dance critic called it “not only a brilliantly conceived, ever-relevant broadside on governmental venality, but also a mind-blowing cerebral journey”. A rare treat indeed. Catherine Gee

Let’s dance: Revisor performed at Sadler’s Wells

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