Talented mimic Alistair McGowan makes a really big impression as he returns to his first love, acting.

He plays Khlestakov, a spendthrift and gambler and the hero of Gogols 1836 comedy, who is mistaken for a government inspector in a small provincial Russian town by corrupt townfolk.

McGowan is a striking and commanding figure, tall and looking even taller when he dons his top hat. He soon overwhelms the towns officials with his stunning flights of fancy about his fantasy life in St Petersburg, where he claims to be a regular visitor at the imperial court.

He is soon moved from a gloomy room at the local inn into the mayors own home, where he is fed, clothed, fawned over by all the towns worthies and fought over by the mayors wife and daughter.

McGowan strides across the stage like a king, promising everything to everyone, and along the way gathering large sums of money from the corrupt officials for promising to help them with any of their problems.

And this is one corrupt town, where the medical officer has sold all the beds in the hospital, the magistrate keeps geese in the courtroom and the mayor cheats everybody and pays for nothing.

This production, directed by Martin Duncan to a freely-translated script by Alistair Beaton, is a triumph. You cant help but laugh out loud as the towns officials jump through hoops trying to please their honoured guest.

There is excellent use of music for the sound effects, and movement director Toby Sedgwick has come up with some brilliant choreography.

Breathtaking scenes include the brides offered to Khlestakov and his seduction of the wife and daughter. The final scene, when he is discovered not to be the government inspector, is a sustained piece of visual and verbal comedy which is a pleasure to watch.

Gogols satire is in extremely safe hands with this production and will remind us all that corruption is probably as endemic now as it ever was.