2005. Full length, no break. Flexible cast; 4M, 6W in original production (Saint Louis University, Madrid)   LYSISTRATA KALONIKE MYRRHINE LAMPITO GRAMPS GRANNY COMMISSIONER ELIA WATCH KINESIAS SIMON AMBASSADOR CHORUS of old men/women*   * In the original production, masks, wigs and false beards were used so that each chorus member had a male side and a female side. This is not a necessity but is one possible solution if cast size is small. Lysistrata, fed up with war, takes matters into her own hands and enlists women on both sides of the conflict to go on a sex strike until the men in power put an end to the conflict. Meanwhile, unevenly matched brigades of old men and women fight it out for possession of the Citadel, center of economic and military power. The men don’t give in easily, and the women become just as desperate as their husbands, but in the end Lysistrata’s cuckoo plan works and everybody joins in celebration. This is an adaptation of Aristophanes, not a translation. Since nobody cares about Sparta anymore, the conflict is explicitly east/west. Some of the raunchy humor still remains, but the topical references are new (Oprah, Iraq, Hollywood, soccer, shopping, Barry White). Characters and situations have been updated and Aristophanes’ verse forms replaced (by everything from rap to limericks). Every effort has been made to retain the cartoonish craziness of the original, as well as its urgent anti-war message.   excerptLysistrata_excerpt.htmlshapeimage_2_link_0
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