Lysistrata

Synopsis

Love, war and women's lib. Written in the 4th Century BC this is one of the greatest of anti-war plays, as well as a bawdy comedy. Lysistrata and the younger women of Athens hold a sex strike in an attempt to stop the 20 year Peloponnesian war whilst she also leads the older women on an assault of the Acropolis.

Our Review:

8 March 2013

Theatre Lab Company have taken Aristophanes' 411BC comedy about a woman's determination to end The Peloponnesian War and dropped it into the centre of the current Euro-crisis. While the bankers and politicians cling to power, Lysistrata mobilises the women of Europe to occupy the financial organisations and force the men to negotiate by withholding sex. As sexual frustration grows on both sides, it becomes a battle of wills - and the sexes - as to who can hold out for what they want.

Already bawdy, under Anastasia Revi's direction Lysistrata's "broad comedy" level is turned up to 11. It's big and brash, without subtlety or nuance, a relentless hammering home of the message about strong women grabbing power from ineffectual men. The women represent the nations of Europe, with Kalonike as a Spanish fruit seller and flamenco dancer, and Lampito a stiffly-dressed German career woman. Add an elderly Italian widow (Strathyllia) and Pitho, a French socialite, and there's ...

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Latest User Review

Chris K - 11 March 2013:

This is an amazing adaptation of the classic comedy. Women represent not the ancient Greek cities but european countries. The battle is not between men and women but between those with power and those without. Women in ancient Greece were one of the oppressed social groups, hence Aristophanes uses them to resolve the war. Similalry this production uses women from a working class background as the only hope to resolve the european crisis. ...

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