As we waited in line to get our vaccine passports checked at the Vancouver Playhouse, the person behind me said to their date, “I’ve been waiting a long time for this. It’s going to be so good!” And just like that, my expectations were set. “Revisor” is one of Kidd Pivot’s most sought after shows. In the city’s dance and creative communities, the show’s reputation as a cross-genre marvel seems to be well known. Crystal Pite and Jonathan Young have taken Gogol’s 19th century play, “The Government Inspector,” and retold it twice in “Revisor.” In their retellings, they use the tools of contemporary dance and an accompanying voiceover track to make important points about the body, language, and of course, bureaucracy and corruption!
In the opening scene, we are introduced to the Director of the Complex in his sturdy green military attire, and the Postmaster in a velvet, navy suit and hat. Accompanying them is the grim Minister Desouza dressed all in black, and half-balding Doctor Harlow. Rounding out this corrupt government crew is the earnest Interrogator, also in military green, and the flammably flirtatious Director’s wife. The costumes along with the large wooden doors, wooden desks, swinging chandeliers and tinkering drinks trolleys are reminiscent of 19th century, opulent Russia. All the while, the actors lip-sync to a pre-recording of the dialogue.
Enter the Revisor, and his mouthy assistant Ospi, who the corrupt crew believe have the power to grant the Director a much-awaited promotion. The Revisor insists he just moves commas around on legal documents but the Director believes there’s more to him than meets the eye. With the help of his officials, the Director stages a cocktail party, one of the finest mergers of dance and theatre I have ever seen, in which the Revisor gets drunk and tells shocking stories. He later wakes up to the Doctor, the Interrogator and Minister Desouza, looming over him and persuading him to rebel against the Director.
At this point in the show we witness a shift. A shift in narrative style, in music, in genre. What was till now, primarily a play with exaggerated and animated movements that dipped its toes into dance, becomes a contemporary dance piece with abstract themes and a manual-like narration. The actors now become dancers, their 19th century Russian costumes are replaced by present day casual clothing. The traditional dialogue track is replaced by an instructional monologue – “Figure 1 moves left to Figure 9, Figure 9 pulls away three steps, over to the bed/ Figure 1’s elbow to Figure 9’s knee.”
The dancers’ movements become bigger and they travel the whole width and breadth of the stage. The lighting too changes from theatrical floodlights to focal points illuminating the dancers in their solos, duets and group choreographies. A single interrogative ceiling lamp swings from above on the dancer versions of the Revisor and Ospi, and creates a tense ambiance in which truth is an interpretation and narratives are interchangeable. White lightning periodically dashes across the backdrop like static with audible flashes. Electronic and ambient hip hop sections see actors moving back and forth mechanically like glitches on a DVD, emphasising the actors’ precision and control.
The dance piece takes us through all the scenes we witnessed earlier, from the introduction to the Director and his corrupt officials, to the Revisor being pulled into framing him, but through a strikingly different lens. So if you felt like you missed something the first time around well here was your chance to catch up! But of course, that’s not the point. The retelling of the first part in dance form strips the original play of its formalities. It allows us to examine themes that run deeper within the play and within us, themes that are eternal. Themes like fear, paranoia, surveillance, trust, betrayal and urban loneliness.
The caricatures from the original play fall away to reveal serious characters with motivations that can be understood by all of us. The dance brings a seriousness and gravity to the play, even pushing its comedic sense into territories of drama and sometimes of horror. This is where the genius of Pite and Young lies. They have taken an important classic, which was ahead of its time, and added to it in a meaningful way that all contemporary artists hope to do.
Pite and Young are the Revisors.
This review would not be complete without us gushing over Revisor’s talented cast, which comprises of excellent actors as well as dancers, many of whom are artists of colour. I also very much appreciated the casting of female dancers for the traditionally male roles of the Minister and the Interrogator. The dancers’ exaggerated movements in the first half reminded me of early Pixar characters like the Incredibles. How is that even humanly possible? To match the speed of an animated character? The actors/dancers were fully connected to their characters and to their movement. They lip-synced to the voiceovers so closely it would have made RuPaul weep. The dancers’ athleticism, poetic contemporary sensibilities as well as comic timing blew my mind. This is an ensemble cast where each of the nine actors (although Brandon Alley played both Doctor Harlow and Ospi in this production) gets a moment to shine and boy do they ever.
Put “Revisor” on your list of shows to catch as the city opens up. See how Pite and Young have achieved an incredible feat by merging theatre and dance, all the while paying homage to one of the most important aspects of any artists’ process – the revision. Pite is fast becoming one of Canada’s most celebrated artists, fresh off of her Governor General Award win earlier this year. Seeing her name flash across the screens at the Opera Garnier in Paris earlier this year filled me pride. So yes, go and support, the homegrown talents of Crystal Pite! The writing genius of Jonathan Young! And the incredible gifts of “Revisor’s” dancers!
“Revisor” plays at the Vancouver Playhouse through Dance House for two more nights. Get your tickets here!
– Prachi Kamble