Lysistrata represents Themester through theatrical adaptation

How does one woman stop a war? By joining forces with other women in withholding sexual pleasure from their husbands.

That is the message of Lysistrata, a play written by Greek comic playwright Aristophanes in Athens in 411 BC. The comedy centers around one woman’s incredible efforts to bring the Peloponnesian War to an end.

Popularized throughout the centuries, in part due to its bawdy theme and content, the play has been adapted multiple times, Director Fontaine Syer said.

One of these modern adaptations was created by American actress-playwright Ellen McLaughlin and staged by the IU Department of Theater & Drama. The production ran from Dec. 2 to Dec. 10 at the Wells-Metz Theater.

McLaughlin wrote the script as part of The Lysistrata Project, which protested American aggression toward Iraq before the 2003 invasion, Syer said.

While still staying true to the original script’s humorous and anti-war content, the department’s version catered to modern audiences with the insertion of references to popular culture and adaptation of visual and audio elements.

“This translation was written to be performed as if it was being performed today,” said Syer about the decision to use modernized, Grecian-inspired dress in the play. “It’s full of the slang that we use and the way that we talk.”

Even the theater’s setup departed significantly from the ancient Greek aesthetic. It was made to look like a circus arena with a center stage covered in blue, green, yellow and orange painted swirls and stripes. Similarly brightly colored banners hung from the rafters to resemble the roof of a circus tent.  

“The idea was that we were entering this world to cause something to happen, and then we leave it at the end,” said Kristl Densley, who played the lead role of Lysistrata and using her performance as part of her master’s thesis.

Audience members, seated on three levels, were positioned so they formed a circle around the stage. Those seated on the ground floor were in close proximity to the performers, and for much of the show, were enthusiastic with their whoops and hearty laughter.

“Because we open it up for audience participation at the top, they feel free to comment like that, which is how theater always used to be,” Densley said. “Any show is always a marriage between the audience and the performers, so I think it made for a fun experience for both parties.”

Perhaps the part of the show that garnered the most gasps, laughs and shock from audience members was the long, inflated balloons tied to actors’ waists or sticking out from their trousers to represent erections.

These exaggerated images were created in order to illustrate the men’s weakening resolve to resist the women’s demands.

True to its approach of audience interactivity, male audience members were pulled from their seats near the end and brought on stage, where similar balloons were tied around their waists.

Despite the embarrassed looks on some audience members’ faces, others saw the risqué jokes and scenes as vital to the play.

“It was very funny, very clever,” said teacher and audience member Kitty Llerandi. “But I thought that they were not over the top. I thought it was appropriate within the context of what they were doing.”

Making the adaptation as cunning as possible was Syer’s main prose.

“I’ve tried to make the play as funny as I can,” Syer said. “But I’ve also tried to make it as heartfelt as I can. When Lysistrata sits down and convinces the other women of Greece to stop having sex with their husbands, she talks about being lonely and being terrified all the time that her husband is dying. It’s very powerful.”

Underlying the hilarity and light-hearted jokes, however, is a deeper message, an anti-war thread directly inspired and related to America’s war in the Middle East.
“The intention with any Themester is to connect what’s happening on campus to the larger world,” said Tracy Bee, director of Academic Initiatives at the College of Arts and Sciences.

That was why Lysistrata was chosen as one of the plays to convey the Fall 2011 Themester “Making War, Making Peace” theme.   

“One thing that Ellen (McLaughlin) said when she was here was that this play needs to be updated every year,” Densley said. “Because it’s political humor, and political humor changes every year.”