Election Section

Lysistrata, Aristophanes’ classic of ancient comedy—and the preeminent modern antiwar stage production—will be presented by The National Theatre of Greece Friday, Oct. 1 (8 p. m.) and Sunday, Oct. 3 (3 p. m.) at Oakland’s Calvin Simmons Theatre. Adapted to modern Greek and directed by Kostas Tsianos (who will give introductory talks an hour before each performance), Lysistrata will have English supertitles. Lydia Koniordiu stars as Lysistrata. These performances mark its American debut after its presentation at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens—and celebrate the National Theatre's 100th anniversary. 

Originally produced in 411 B. C., Lysistrata tells how the Athenian woman of that name (a pun on "Demobilize!") convinces other women to withhold sexual relations from their husbands and to occupy the Acropolis until peace is declared. The comedy was written after the disastrous Athenian expedition to Sicily; in modern times—particularly since the Popular Front Against Fascism in the 1930s— Lysistrata has been read, illustrated, published and performed as the greatest of antiwar plays, liberating in its comic eroticism.  

On March 3, 2003 (03-03-03), over 1,000 staged readings internationally of the Lysistrata Project, including one on the stage of the Berkeley Rep (with the biggest cast of actor-readers in the world, seen by 1,200 spectators), as well as other productions at several dozen locations throughout the Bay Area, marked a day of protest at the impending invasion of Iraq. 

There have been two schools of thought about the original meaning of Aristophanes’ play: one emphasizes the antiwar aspect, the other focuses on sexual roles overturned in both the civic and domestic life of Athens. In either case, the double meanings and deliberate ambiguities of this bawdy comedy translate easily into contemporary issues—just as, in classical Greek, Aristophanes spoke with extremely up-to-the-minute topicality through his outrageous situations and elaborate puns. Its satire snares every party in its own self-importance.  

Playing Aphrodite, goddess of love, and Athena, warlike virgin and patroness of Athens, against (and yet for) each other, Lysistrata and the woman turn the Acropolis—the heart of the public (that is, men’s) life of the city—into a sacred home, a domestic place just for women. Absurdities like these make the Athens on stage become a brief “comic utopia.” 

A year ago, the National Theatre of Greece brought its production of Euripides’ Medea to the UC Greek Theatre. Critical reaction was overwhelmingly positive for that production, focusing on the brisk pacing yet profound power of the tragedy of a spurned woman, outsider to civilized society. Previous to those performances, the National Theatre had not performed on the West Coast since the 1984 Olympics Arts Festival in Los Angeles, with perhaps the best-known ancient tragedy, Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Now this great national troupe has returned on its centennial to show the comic face of classical Greek drama, seemingly just as topical as it was 2,400 years ago, staged amid the savage absurdities of the contemporary world. 

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