The play "Revizor" in Paris 1 December 2026

Sergei Golomazov’s new *The Inspector General* is a haunting play—a psychological bluff about how a lie becomes reality when those around you are all too willing to believe it.

The action takes place today—in a modern city literally riddled with surveillance cameras. It seems impossible to hide anything here: everyone is being watched, everything is recorded, and anything could end up on screen.

But the more you can see around you, the harder it becomes to see the truth.

The Khlestakov here is not a harmless windbag who accidentally stumbled into someone else’s game. He is a vivid, explosive, temperamental, and dangerously charming liar. His main weapon is his imagination.

He instantly senses others’ fears and desires and begins to create a new reality around himself. His lies become bolder, more aggressive, and more seductive—and gradually take over the entire city.

But is Khlestakov really deceiving these people?

Or do they themselves want to be deceived?

The officials see in him the very person they fear. Others see him as someone capable of paving the way to power, status, money, or a different life. Everyone fills in their own image of “The Inspector General”—and ultimately becomes a victim of their own imagination.

At the heart of the play is an exploration of the mechanisms of self-deception, the fear of exposure, and the astonishing human ability to believe a convenient lie even when the truth is right before one’s eyes.