Several minutes into Canopy Theatre Company’s production of Lysistrata: The Sex Strike, I turned to my friend with a profound question about one of the characters onstage:
“Um, did she just say ‘vajazzle’?”
It’s not exactly something that you expect to hear during the performance of an ancient Greek comedy, but talk of vajazzling was only the first indication that this adaptation of Lysistrata, written by controversial feminist Germaine Greer, is by no means a conventional interpretation of Aristophanes’ much-loved and famously bawdy play.
Lysistrata is set against the backdrop of the Peloponnesian War, a protracted military conflict waged by Athens and Sparta in the 5th century BCE. With no end to the war in sight, Lysistrata persuades the women of Greece to withhold sexual favours from their husbands until a peace treaty is signed.
Greer preserves most of Lysistrata’s original structure, but alters its central theme. Beneath all its lewd humour, Aristophanes’ play is an invective against the politicians whose greed and ineptitude had so upset the natural order of the Greek world that a group of babbling women were forced to take charge and end the war.
Greer turns the women’s seizure of authority into an act of empowerment, a triumph over the boorish males who dismiss and denigrate their wives. “I’m developing a personality and thoughts of my own,” one of the female characters says when the women of Greece start gaining the upper hand in the battle of the sexes. This trope is undoubtedly Greer’s insertion into the original text, but it adds a dimension to Lysistrata that heightens the play’s relevance to a contemporary audience.
Unfortunately, Lysistrata: The Sex Strike seems torn between trying to emphasize relatively modern notions of gender equality and, at the same time, preserve the spirit of the original text. What starts out as an astute social satire loses much of its impact as the play evolves into a kitschy, bawdy romp that can’t quite shake Aristophanes’ gleeful use of obvious gender stereotypes.
This uneasy intersection of ancient humour and modern values becomes abundantly clear during the Canopy Theatre production. We are invited to laugh when the female characters flounce around in tiny dresses, grope each other’s breasts and make countless suggestive jokes, and then we are expected to take them seriously when they bemoan the fact that sexuality is their only recourse to power.
Of course, if you don’t let that get under your skin, Lysistrata: The Sex Strike is an undeniably fun play to watch. The production is staged at the outdoor theatre along Philosopher’s Walk, an appropriate venue for an ancient Greek play that would have been performed outside.
The production’s use of set design and lighting is fairly minimal, but the cast performs with more than enough exuberance to make up for it. The male actors parade their enormous fake erections around with unabashed gusto, while the women joyfully engage in Lysistrata’s suggestive banter. The obvious sexual innuendo does start to grow a bit wearisome by the end of the second act, but the actors manage to buoy the play back up with their enthusiasm.
Ultimately, Lysistrata: The Sex Strike is a jokey, silly production that gets a bit confused by its own portrayal of the sexes, but still makes some interesting points about gender politics, social inequality and war.
Lysistrata plays until August 6 at Outdoor Theatre for Downtown Toronto.
