Play on Words

full length · satire

The Inspector-General

by Nikolai Gogol

21 roles (17M / 4F) · approx 146–201 minutes · 5 acts

Royalty-free Public domain — free to read, perform, and adapt. No licence needed.

Characters

Khlestakov lead 234 speeches
Governor lead 171 speeches
Anna supporting 87 speeches
Artemy supporting 48 speeches
Osip supporting 46 speeches
Ammos minor 43 speeches
Marya minor 43 speeches
Postmaster minor 40 speeches
Dobchinsky minor 38 speeches
Bobchinsky minor 37 speeches
Servant minor 25 speeches
Luka minor 21 speeches
Merchants minor 12 speeches
Korobkin minor 11 speeches
Mishka minor 9 speeches
Captain minor 7 speeches
Widow minor 6 speeches
All minor 5 speeches
Judge minor 5 speeches
Svistunov minor 4 speeches
Postilion minor 4 speeches
Korobkin'S Wife minor 4 speeches
Luka Lukich minor 3 speeches

Read the play

Khlestakov alone.

Khlestakov. It's just as if I had eaten nothing at all, upon my word. It has only whetted my appetite. If I only had some change to send to the market and buy some bread.

Osip. [entering] The Governor has come, I don't know what for. He's inquiring about you.

Khlestakov. [in alarm] There now! That inn-keeper has gone and made a complaint against me. Suppose he really claps me into jail? Well! If he does it in a gentlemanly way, I may--No, no, I won't. The officers and the people are all out on the street and I set the fashion for them and the merchant's daughter and I flirted. No, I won't. And pray, who is he? How dare he, actually? What does he take me for? A tradesman? I'll tell him straight out, "How dare you? How--"

[The door knob turns and Khlestakov goes pale and shrinks back.]

Monologues from this play