My first exposure to the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes' play "Lysistrata" came from my World Lit class in undergrad. I remember being surprised by how funny and, um, earthy it was. I guess I thought anything that old and classic had to be dry and sedate. Although I'd read the play many years ago, I'd never seen it performed live until last night when I caught
Synetic Theater's production of it. Technically though, I guess I've still never really seen it performed live.
Synetic's version of "Lysistrata" is more a re-interpretation or re-imagining than a straight production. It's a joint production with the Georgetown University drama department and most of the cast is composed of Georgetown students or recent grads. The play concerns a Greek woman who, tiring of the ceaseless war between her city-state and a rival state that drains their treasuries and destroys their men, organizes her fellow women and the women of their rival state to press for peace. The women's tactics include occupying the treasury building and stealing their men's armor and weapons, but their primary strategy involves a sex strike. No peace, no nookie. The immovable object of war thus meets the irresistible force of sex.
Synetic's production of "Lysistrata" is certainly funny, but a bit disappointing. They settle too easily for the broad, cheap laugh and the efforts to modernize the play come off as heavy-handed and a trifle clumsy. While they've largely maintained Aristophanes' original story, they've done more than a bit of violence to his words. Here's a thought -- when a play has survived for over 2000 years and been hailed as a great work all that time, the less you monkey with it the better. Case in point, the godawful rap sequence. Although I will admit that changing the lyrics of the Eagles' "Desperado" to "Lysistrata" in a later serenade scene was pretty damn funny.
"Lysistrata" is really an odd fit for Synetic. They do best when they focus on telling a story through dance, motion, and pantomime. There's not much of that in this production and what is there is a bit too MTV-ish. "Lysistrata" is more dialogue-driven and that is not Synetic's strength. Stretching yourself and trying new things is fine, but hopefully they'll return more to what they do best in future productions.
The costumes, score, and set for this production are all adequate but not particularly noteworthy. Nothing about any of them really stands out. Similarly, the performances are workmanlike, but none of the actors really shine in their parts. Synetic's production of "Lysistrata" is fine if you're just in the market for a few cheap laughs. Otherwise, you're better off reading the original.
(
Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)
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