Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com<\/a> during rehearsals last week, Starkey \u2013 who played Strax throughout Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi\u2019s Doctor Who eras \u2013 spoke about the upcoming play and teased that he\u2019d be channelling \u201cstrong Baldrick energy\u201d into his role.<\/p>\n \u201cUnlike Strax, my character here is very low status, but he\u2019s happy to stay like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Adapted from Nikolai Gogol\u2019s 19th century comedy, Starkey plays Ivan Grubble, a member of a corrupt town council that collectively starts to panic when a government inspector rolls into town. But in their efforts to schmooze the inspector into ignoring their immoral habits, it completely escapes their notice that the man they suspect is in fact a conman himself.<\/p>\n \u201cIt satirises low government corruption,\u201d said Starkey, \u201caudiences will definitely recognise themes from the current world [but] we\u2019ve transposed it into a slightly weird version of 19th century England.\u201d<\/p>\n The show is taking place at the Marylebone Theatre throughout May and June, and will see the actor star alongside a huge ensemble cast. This includes Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Martha Howe-Douglas \u2013 who famously worked together in BBC\u2019s Ghosts as Mike, a clueless human, and Fanny, a haughty Edwardian \u2013 and Dan Skinner \u2013 best known for his comedy character Angelos Epithemiou.<\/p>\n With so much \u201ccrazy comic talent\u201d on stage at any one time, Starkey called it a \u201cgreat work of choreography, getting something like that to fire on all cylinders.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll spend an hour in rehearsals working on something that takes 10 seconds,\u201d he continued \u201cbut there\u2019s been an awful lot of laughter in the rehearsal room so fingers crossed the audience likes it.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s fast, funny and a good evening of theatre.\u201d<\/p>\n Starkey also spoke about how great it was to be back on the stage, laughing: \u201cI don\u2019t miss wearing [Strax\u2019s] rubber suit but if I got the opportunity again to squeeze myself into it.\u201d<\/p>\n But for any Doctor Who fans who were worried, he was keen to stress that there was still \u201ca little bit of Strax\u201d in the role: \u201cI always seem to play a little man getting very angry, so come along and that\u2019s what you\u2019ll see!\u201d<\/p>\n Buy The Government Inspector tickets at London Theatre Direct<\/strong><\/a><\/p> The Government Inspector is running at the Marylebone Theatre<\/strong> from 3rd May to 15th June 2024<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Marylebone Theatre is a new venue just on the edge of Regent\u2019s Park. To get there, you\u2019ll need to head to Baker Street (Bakerloo, Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City and Circle lines) or Marylebone (Bakerloo line).<\/p>\n Like Regent\u2019s Park? Here\u2019s the best open air theatre shows<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Tickets are on sale now at London Theatre Direct and prices start from \u00a325<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Buy The Government Inspector tickets at London Theatre Direct<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n For more theatre, here\u2019s the best musicals on tour UK<\/a> and how to get tickets to see Rami Malek in Oedipus<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Dan Starkey is set to perform in the Marylebone Theatre\u2019s newest play The Government Inspector from this Friday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":50492,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/04\/doctor-who-star-on-crazy-comic-talent-of-ghosts-alumni-in-west-end-show.jpg",1350,900,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/04\/doctor-who-star-on-crazy-comic-talent-of-ghosts-alumni-in-west-end-show-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/04\/doctor-who-star-on-crazy-comic-talent-of-ghosts-alumni-in-west-end-show-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/04\/doctor-who-star-on-crazy-comic-talent-of-ghosts-alumni-in-west-end-show-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/04\/doctor-who-star-on-crazy-comic-talent-of-ghosts-alumni-in-west-end-show-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/04\/doctor-who-star-on-crazy-comic-talent-of-ghosts-alumni-in-west-end-show.jpg",1350,900,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/04\/doctor-who-star-on-crazy-comic-talent-of-ghosts-alumni-in-west-end-show.jpg",1350,900,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Dan Starkey is set to perform in the Marylebone Theatre\u2019s newest play The Government Inspector from this Friday.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/50491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/04\/Screenshot-2024-04-29-163449-296555a-e1714468888136.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"Screenshot")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>When and where can I see The Government Inspector?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How to get tickets to The Government Inspector<\/strong><\/h2>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"