As the Bush administration prepared for
war, the worldwide peace movement prepared a unique kind of protest
on March 3.
Theatrical groups at home and abroad, including the Kings County
Shakespeare Company at St. Francis College and groups of actors
on the steps of Borough Hall and at the BAM Harvey Theater staged
readings of that quintessential antiwar play, "Lysistrata,"
by Aristophanes.
Quite coincidentally, German director Gabrielle Forster had
made plans to stage the same play at the Impact Theatre in Prospect
Heights, opening Feb. 27, just days before the theatrical event
for peace.
Forster was delighted at the coincidence. Her audiences will
be delighted with the production.
"Lysistrata" takes place during the 21st year of the
Peloponnesian War, which started in 431 B.C., when the Theban
allies of Sparta attacked Athens. Since then, Athens and its
allies, and Sparta and its allies have been battling. During
that time, Pericles, the leader of Athens, died, the Athenian
navy was sunk off the coast of Syracuse, and the once proud cradle
of democracy was overtaken by corrupt politicians. It was in
415 B.C., while the war was at its height, that Aristophanes
wrote his caustic comedy.
"Lysistrata" (Anna Studebaker) is a young woman of
Athens who is so tired of the endless battle that robs women
of their husbands and sons that she persuades the Athenian women
to storm the Acropolis, take over the treasury and refuse to
have sex with their husbands until they make peace. The protest
spreads until both Spartan and Athenian women are united in common
cause and their husbands are eventually united in common desire.
But the women of Athens are not easily persuaded to abandon
their men. Apparently, even in those pre-liberated days women
were every bit as lusty as their partners. In the play, women
are constantly trying to run away, give up or well, you know.
The play is filled with bawdy humor, descriptive language and
provocative gestures. There are numerous references to the male
organ in its various states. The men are loud and vociferous
in their suffering, the women seductive and merciless in their
abstention. One can only imagine what it must have been like
more than 2,000 years ago when the play was performed for a raucous
and reveling Athenian crowd.
Forster has happily chosen a new, updated translation by Nicholas
Rudall.
There are delicious lines like, "It’s no treat for them
if it’s no fun for you. It’s not copulation without cooperation,"
and more serious ones like, "We pay taxes in body bags."
Forster has complemented this fine-tuned script with a sparse
set and modern clothing. Athens is suggested rather than re-created
– with a pedestal, a statue, a bench and two contemporary road
signs.
Forster has also commissioned an old friend, Brian Williams,
to compose an engaging score that makes one think Broadway has
come to Athens.
"Lysistrata" is an ensemble piece performed by 14
actors who also sing, and occasionally dance. Studebaker’s is
the only starring role, and she acquits herself admirably as
the audacious and determined Lysistrata. But the other men and
women are excellent in their supporting roles – giving these
Greek men and women real personalities of their own.
Two thousand years after Aristophanes wrote "Lysistrata"
it’s amazing how little men and women have changed. The Athenian
women complain about how their men take younger women when they’ve
grown old. The men are pretty much helpless when it comes to
caring for their children when their wives are away.
But most of all, Aristophanes was right on when he observed
how it is the silent consent of women that allows their men to
go to war. That’s what made "Lysistrata" such a subversive
play in 415 B.C., and what makes it such a subversive play in
A.D. 2003.
"Lysistrata" plays March 6-8 at 8 pm, and March
9 at 3 pm. Tickets are $15 at the Impact Theatre, 190 Underhill
Ave. between Sterling and St. John’s Place in Prospect Heights.
For reservations, call (718) 390-7163.
