No topic is more susceptible to the satirical pen than that of politicians and petty graft. Actual proof of this statement is being presented this week by the Harvard Dramatic Club at Brattle Hall. The play is the Russian comedy, "Inspector General" by Nicolai Gogol. A simple story of mistaken identity--one of the most satisfactory of comic devices--provides the basis for two hours of continual merriment. In a small city of Tsarist Russia the corrupt officials are visited by an Imperial inspector with highly unorthodox ideas of reform. He spends his time accepting bribes and making promises, attempting to seduce both the Mayor's wife and daughter simultaneously as well as getting delightfully stewed. Such conduct is naturally pleasing to the worried officials until the end when their fatal mistake is revealed by the arrival of the actual inspector.

This simple story, however, would have turned out to be a cipher without the admirable handling which the Dramatic Club has given it. Judiciously mixing slapstick farce with the comic-ballet technique developed by the Moscow Art Theatre, director Ted Squier '43, has done a superb job. The caricatures of the officials are finely conceived and executed, while the final scene is a masterpiece of dramatic staging. The director had good actors to work with and the result is one of the most well rounded casts that H. D. has presented. Most of the actors are unrecognizable under their astounding make-up, but padding, beards, and false noses cannot hide the real talent of the actors underneath. Dob- and Bob-chinsky are two of the funniest characters imaginable. Earl Montgomery and Bob Keahey have the two important male roles, both of which are done with excellent comedy timing, while the two feminine leads, Jacqueline Proctor of Erskine and Edith Bronson of Radcliffe, perform nicely in the two most ordinary parts in the play. Particularly pleasant is the love sequence between these two and Bob Keahey with Miss Bronson in at the clinch.

The play itself would be classed somewhat below standards of American comedy, for it has spots where the writing drags, but in production under the fine skill of the director, these parts vanish in laughter. The freshness and frivolity of the performance places it on the "must" list for all who enjoy a laugh.