The most powerful weapon in the feminine arsenal is used to make a strike forpeace in this, the most popular of Aristophanes' plays. Under the leadership ofa determined Athenian, Lysistrata, the women of the warring city-states ofGreece unite in refusing their husbands all sexual favors until the men agreeto bring peace to the land. Both men and women find the sex strike a painfulsacrifice, and eventually the women's resolve forces the men to realize thatthe glories of battle are much easier to forswear than the joys of intimacy.First produced in 411 B.C., Lysistrata is a sexual comedy without peerin the history of theatre, as well as a fantasy that gives eloquent expressionto Aristophanes' dream of the salvation from war.
In conjunction with the performance opening, Douglass Parker, a leadingtranslator of Greek and Roman drama, and of Aristophanes' comedies inparticular, will give a lecture, "Lysistrata and Me, or How to GetClosed in Cleveland," on Thursday, April 17 at 4:15 p.m. in the Kirner-Johnsonbuilding Red Pit.
Currently a professor of classics at the University of Texas at Austin,Parker has also taught at Yale, Michigan, Dartmouth, and the University ofCalifornia at Riverside. His translation of Aristophanes' TheCongresswomen was a finalist for the National Book Award, and his versionof Lysistrata has been produced over 200 times. He will discuss avariety of subjects, including problems of translation and performance.Admission to the Parker lecture is free and open to the public. The lectureis funded by the Winslow Lecture Fund, which was established through a bequestfrom William Copley Winslow, Class of 1862, to support lectures on classicalarchaeology.
For information on the performance, or to purchase tickets call 859-4057.
