Play Reading in English - Lysistrata by Aristophanes

Lysistrata, written by the Greek comedy dramatist Aristophanes in 411 BC, is a comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end the Peloponnesian War by relying on their feminine bargaining power. The protagonist, Lysistrata, persuades the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands and lovers by means of a ‘sex strike’ as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace, a strategy, however, that initially seriously inflames the battle between the sexes. Thus Lysistrata is notable for being an early exposé of sexual relations in a male-dominated society.

At the time of the play's initial production, Athens and Sparta had been at war for twenty years, and this play would have offered one of the few opportunities to laugh at war. The idea that Lysistrata could unite women to end the war would have prepared audiences for the battle between the sexes familiar in the comedy genre. In his play Aristophanes employs the power and influence of women to bring peace, but in doing so, he is pointing out to men that they have failed in their efforts to settle the war. The irony of the gender issues within the play is underlined by the fact that for a long time women on stage were represented by male actors in many cultures.

There is no record extant of Aristophanes having received any awards for Lysistrata, but the play's popularity in modern productions points to its probable success on stage in its own time. In recent years there have been film versions and a stage musical entitled ‘Lysistrata Jones’ updating the comedy to a college campus in the United States and emphasise its contemporary resonances.

Play reading will be conducted in English.

Facilitators: Mike Ingham; Julian Quail

Photo credit: http://inthenextroom.blogspot.hk/2011/04/lysistrata-by-aristophanes.html