I’ll freely admit that I’m not exactly up on my Russian fiction, so I came to Dead Souls quite fresh. Narrated by Michael Palin, who “appears” in the story, he accompanies Chichikov as he goes about his way trying to buy dead peasants. Chichikov, played expertly by Mark (Spaced, Green Wing) Heap, has a scheme that involves accumulating wealth by owning these peasants – since they’re taxable even if they’re dead, between censuses. He can then borrow against them to gain vast wealth. When he defaults on the repayment, his debtors will take ownership of this property – the dead souls.
It’s quite a playful version of the story that’s been adapted in a very modern manner – there’s even a joke about Kishishev (of Charlton Athletic) – but unlike the recent Jeeves and Wooster, the up-to-dateness of the production doesn’t get in the way of the story.
Thoroughly recommended. If you’re reading this before the evening of Saturday May 6 2006, you can listen again to both episodes.