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A classic admonition to make love, not war
By JENNIFER CONWAY
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 31, 2001
Centuries before the advent of marriage counselors, sex therapists and Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, women and men were battling out their differences.
Then, as now, the war often came down to one issue: sex.
Tonight through June 17, the battle of the sexes will be fought on stage at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center's Shimberg Playhouse with the opening of Lysistrata.
Aristophanes' play is centered on an Athenian woman, Lysistrata, who convinces the women of Greece to seize the Acropolis and hold a "sex strike" in order to end the Peloponnesian War, which the women blame on the men. Loaded with sexual innuendos and wisecracks, the play has often been criticized for vulgarity.
But this performance by the Center Theater Company will "use contemporary theater language and will be light-hearted," says co-director David Jenkins. It will be more along the lines of comedian Benny Hill rather than porn star Ron Jeremy, he says, bawdy but not vulgar.
And although the play was written and first performed in 410 B.C., the cast will not be wearing togas and laurels. "Costuming will be natural, timeless and locationless," says Jenkins.
The timeliness of Lysistrata comes from its articulation of the bitter verbal arguments between men and women and the sometimes painful result of sexual abstinence. While the women's husbands remain off at war, a chorus of old men tries to take back the Acropolis, the sacred temple of Athena. The accusations that arise from their confrontation share the tones of contemporary sexist jokes.
When the men eventually return home, deprived of intimacy and desperate for their wives, their arrival is not met cheerfully. Exhibiting signs of arousal, they beg their wives for "relations," but the women will agree only if the war ends.
"Relationships haven't changed over the last thousand years," says Jenkins, "There is still the idea of men versus women." Overall, he says, the play is about coming together and compromising in order to solve a problem.
Over the years, Lysistrata has been rewritten and adapted to fit changing times and sometimes has been banned because of its provocative themes.
Families shouldn't be alarmed at this performance, says Jenkins. The play's content is appropriate for middle-school students and their grandparents.
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WHAT: Aristophanes' Lysistrata
WHEN: Tonight through June 17; 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 4 p.m. on Sundays
WHERE: Shimberg Playhouse at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
COST: $15.50 Thursdays, $21.50 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays
CALL: (813) 229-7827 or (800) 955-1045; tickets may also be purchased at the Center's ticket office or online at www.tbpac.org.
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