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Lysistrata belongs to the middle period of Aristophanes' career when he was beginning to diverge significantly from the conventions of Old Comedy. Such variations from convention include: The divided Chorus: The Chorus begins this play being divided (Old Men versus Old Women), and its unification later exemplifies the major theme of the play – reconciliation. There is nothing quite like this use of a Chorus in the other plays. A doubling of the role of the Chorus occurs in two other middle-period plays, The Frogs and Thesmophoriazusae, but in each of those plays the two Choruses appear consecutively and not simultaneously. The nearest equivalent to Lysistrata's divided Chorus is found in the earliest of the surviving plays, The Acharnians, where the Chorus very briefly divides into factions for and against the protagonist.[56] Parabasis: The parabasis is an important, conventional element in Old Comedy. There is no parabasis proper in Lysistrata. Most plays have a second parabasis near the end and there is something like a parabasis in that position in this play but it only comprises two songs (strophe and antistrophe) and these are separated by an episodic scene of dialogue.[57] In these two songs, the now united Chorus declares that it is not prepared to speak ill of anyone on this occasion because the current situation (ta parakeimena) is already bad enough – a topical reference to the catastrophic end to the Sicilian Expedition. In keeping however with the victim-centred approach of Old Comedy, the Chorus then teases the entire audience with false generosity, offering gifts that are not in its power to give. Agon: The Roman orator Quintilian considered Old Comedy a good genre for study by students of rhetoric[58] and the plays of Aristophanes in fact contain formal disputes or agons that are constructed for rhetorical effect. Lysistrata's debate with the proboulos (magistrate) is an unusual agon[59] in that one character (Lysistrata) does almost all the talking while the antagonist (the magistrate) merely asks questions or expresses indignation. The informality of the agon draws attention to the absurdity of a classical woman engaging in public debate.[60] Like most agons, however, it is structured symmetrically in two sections, each half comprising long verses of anapests that are introduced by a choral song and that end in a pnigos. In the first half of the agon, Lysistrata quotes from Homer's Iliad ("war will be men's business"), then quotes 'the man in the street' ("Isn't there a man in the country?" – "No, by God, there isn't!") and finally arrives at the only logical conclusion to these premises: "War will be women's business!" The logic of this conclusion is supported rhythmically by the pnigos, during which Lysistrata and her friends dress the magistrate like a woman, with a veil and a basket of wool, reinforcing her argument and lending it ironic point – if the men are women, obviously the war can only be women's business. During the pnigos of the second section, the magistrate is dressed like a corpse, highlighting the argument that war is a living death for women. The agon in Lysistrata is thus a fine example of rhetoric even though it is unusually one-sided. Influence and legacy 1611 John Fletcher wrote his play The Tamer Tamed, which echoes Lysistrata's sex-strike plot. 1902 Adapted as an operetta by Paul Lincke. 1910: Performed at the Little Theatre in the Adelphi in London with Gertrude Kingston in the title role. 1946: Lysistrata was performed in New York with an all-black cast, including Etta Moten Barnett. It had particular resonance after a war in which many African Americans had served their nation in the armed forces, but had to deal with a segregated army and few opportunities for officers' commissions. In addition, veterans returned to legal segregation and near disfranchisement in the South, as well as more subtle but definite de facto segregation in many northern cities. 1956: Lysistrata became in the 1950s "The Second Greatest Sex", a movie musical with songs by Henry Mancini produced at Universal Studios and directed by George Marshall, starring Jeanne Crain, George Nader and Bert Lahr. It was re-set improbably in the 19th century American wild west. 1961: The play served as the basis for the musical The Happiest Girl in the World. The play was revived in the National Theatre's 1992–1993 season, transferring successfully from the South Bank to Wyndham's Theatre. 1968: Feminist director Mai Zetterling made a radical film Flickorna (released in English as The Girls),[61] starring three reigning Swedish film actresses: Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson and Gunnel Lindblom, who were depicted playing roles in Lysistrata. 1976: Ludo Mich adapted the play for a film in which all the actors and actresses were naked throughout.[62] A 2007 staging of Lysistrata From the 2005 staging of Lysistrata produced in Central Park. 1982: Utopia (band)'s album "Swing to the Right" featured an anti-war song entitled "Lysistrata" that loosely paraphrases the content of the drama as dialog between the song's protagonist and his female significant other. 1983: Şalvar Davası a Turkish movie adaptation based loosely on Lysistrata of director Kartal Tibet starring Müjde Ar as Lysistrata. 1985: David Brin's post-apocalyptic novel The Postman, which had themes of duty, war, peace, and gender roles, is dedicated: "To Benjamin Franklin, devious genius, and to Lysistrata, who tried". 1987: Ralf König freely adapted the play in a comic strip, satirising gay and lesbian mores and liberation movements of the era. 2001: Israeli playwright Anat Gov created a 21st-century adaption, called "Lysistrata 2000". It featured modern elements and major anti-war messages. 2003: In reaction to the Iraq disarmament crisis, a peace protest initiative, The Lysistrata Project, was based on readings of the play held worldwide on March 3, 2003.[63] 2004: A 100-person show called Lysistrata 100 was performed in Brooklyn, New York.[64] Edward Einhorn wrote the adaptation, which was performed in a former warehouse converted to a pub. The play was set at the Dionysia, much as the original may have been. 2005: Another operatic version of the play, Lysistrata, or The Nude Goddess, composed by Mark Adamo, premiered at the Houston Grand Opera in March. 2005 (June): Jason Tyne's adaptation set in present-day New York City was premiered in Central Park.[65] Lucy and her fellow New Yorkers Cleo and Cookie called all of the wives, girlfriends, and lovers of the men controlling the most powerful countries to engage the women in a sex boycott to bring the men into line. 2007: James Thomas directed the play for PBS as part of a series on "Female Power & Democracy", which explored how female participation in civic life was moving from comedy to reality.[citation needed] 2010: Author Kody Kepplinger devises a modern retelling of the play in a YA novel called "Shut Out", in which high school girlfriends refuse their boyfriends of sex until they agree to end a feud between the football players and the soccer team. 2010: As part of the Corona Classic Cuts season of Oran Mor's Play Pie and Pint, a reduced version adapted by David Maclennan and with music by Dave Anderson was performed by an all male cast with Colin McCredie as Lysistrata, Iain Robertson as Cleonice and Dave Anderson as Magistrate / Cinesias. 2011: Lysistrata Jones — a contemporary riff by Douglas Carter Beane (book) and Lewis Flinn (music/lyrics) for the Transport Group Theater Company, starred Patti Murin and Liz Mikel, and opened at in New York at the Judson Memorial Church Gymnasium and later transferred to Broadway. 2011: Valerie Schrag adapted and illustrated the play for volume one of the graphic-novel anthology The Graphic Canon, edited by Russ Kick and published by Seven Stories Press.[66] 2011: Meg Wolitzer adapted the story to 21st century New Jersey in "The Uncoupling," in which a production of Lysistrata causes women to turn away from men. 2012: Isabelle Ameganvi, a civil-rights lawyer in Togo (Africa), called on the women of Togo to deny sexual relations with their men in protest against President Faure Gnassingbé.[67] 2012: Indonesian Dhalang Ki Jlitheng Suparman adapted Lysistrata into a wayang climen play with the title Nirasmara.[68] Translations This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2007) 1872, William James Hickie, The Comedies of Aristophanes. A New and Literal Translation. Volume 2. London: Bohn’s Library. 1912, published by the Athenian Society, London; unknown translator rumored to be Oscar Wilde. Lysistrata 1924, Benjamin B. Rogers, verse 1925, Jack Lindsay, verse[69] 1934, Arthur S. Way, verse 1944, Charles T. Murphy, prose and verse 1954, Dudley Fitts, prose and verse 1961, Donald Sutherland, prose and verse[70] 1963, Douglass Parker, verse 1972, Germaine Greer, prose 1988, Jeffrey Henderson, verse 1991, Nicholas Rudall 2000, George Theodoridis, 2000, prose[71] 2002, David Landon, Ph.D. M.F.A., prose and verse 2003, Sarah Ruden 2004, Paul Roche, verse and prose 2005, Edward Einhorn, prose and verse[72] 2003/06, Chris Tilley, musical version with prose and songs Anonymous translator, prose[73] |
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