It is a tragedy, set among low-lifes on the outskirts of Budapest. Dramatic Exchange describes it as "Widely considered to be the most important Hungarian play of the last 20 years". The odd title of the play refers in the first instance to the chicken heads that an old woman feeds to her cat....
The corrupt leaders of a small rural town learn that an auditor is coming from St Petersburg. Frightened, they try to put things in order. Hlesztakov, a Petersburg official, has been starving for days in his inn in the small town, having gambled away all his money and no credit. In a...