By Michelle Hines, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted 4-23-09
Joby Lee Strachan (top) attempts to keep Rebecca Bruder away from Josh Yoder's luring ways. Photo by Bert VanderVeen.
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Theatre’s production of “Lysistrata” drives home a pacifist message with crude comic flair.
“Lysistrata,” written by Aristophanes around 411 B.C., runs April 29-May 3 in the Brown Building Theatre on campus. Set during the Peloponnesian War, it centers on Lysistrata, who incites the women of Athens to protest the war by withholding sex.
Christine Morris, the theatre professor who directs the play, says Greek comedies were originally performed with nudity and profanity.
“The Greek comedies spoke very frankly about matters of religion, politics and sex,” Morris says. “We hope we’re carrying on in that spirit of cheerful vulgarity.”
Morris read several translations of “Lysistrata” before settling on one done by Jeffrey Henderson, professor of classical studies at Boston University, in 1988. She wanted to walk a fine line between “overly delicate” earlier translations that lose the original flavor and newer translations that seem too “aggressively obscene.”
Morris says the Marx Brothers, sketch comedy and “I Love Lucy” influenced UNCG’s production. She promises a “loopy,” “circusy” atmosphere.
Two choruses, a chorus of old men and a chorus of old women, reflect public opinion in Athens. Blending modern influences and classical styles and highlighting competing viewpoints, the women’s chorus will be dressed in vestiges of hippie-style while the men’s chorus will appear as war heroes.
“Lysistrata” is especially timely as the U.S. emerges from the war in Iraq, Morris says. An unofficial movement dubbed the Lysistrata Project led theatres around the country to produce the play a few years ago in response to the war.
“There’s really this parallel universe, a melding of Greek influences and contemporary references,” Morris says.
See “Lysistrata” April 29 and 30, 7 p.m.; May 1 and 2, 8 p.m.; or May 2 and 3, 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults; $10 for students and senior citizens; $8 for groups of 10 or more and UNCG Alumni Association members; and $7 for current UNCG Students.
Buy tickets from the University Box Office at (336) 334-4849 or http://boxoffice.uncg.edu. Just to be clear, “Lysistrata” is not appropriate for children.
