Lysistrata

 I was hesitant going in to Lysistrata as I honestly am not a big fan of plays and musicals. From whatever reason, I don't really connect with the theater despite my love of music, books and movies. I gave the play a shot, and was met with a positive experience. Personally, I don't really find the humor very funny; I appreciate the translation's attempt to modernize the jokes, but it might just not be for me.


 In addition to reading the play, I watched some of a live rendition of the play from 2009 on youtube. I definitely found that watching the play was a much different experience then reading it, however I would still say it dragged in parts. My problem with this may just be a problem I hold with theater in general as I don't enjoy the over exaggerated delivery and  body language that is common in theater. 


I will, however say, that I'm blown away by the fact that the concept of this play originally came from Ancient Greece. Even excusing the modernization of this version, this play is considerably forward thinking. A play depicting women as the central characters was rare for the time, let alone a play portraying women as having power over men. This context wasn't apparent to me on my initial read, and I saw the play n a completely different light after learning this. 


Lysistrata is a character is well portrayed. She is a confident leader who believes in the power of women.


I really thought the part of the play where the husbands are begging their wives for sex while having an erection was quite funny. Again, I am surprised this scene comes from such an old play, as it once again shows men as submissive to women. I find it ironic that the early renditions of this play were done with only men due to women not being permitted to enter the theater in ancient Greece. How they didn't realize the ridiculousness of such a rule while preforming this play is beyond me.

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