Bawdy Greek comedy also has penetrating anti-war message

The Greek playwright Aristophanes hit on "Make Love, Not War" as an anti-war slogan long before the hippies. His comedy "Lysistrata" made sex a war game in 411 B.C.

The Actors Co-op opens its 2007-08 season with "Lysistrata" on Thursday, July 26. Performances continue through Aug. 11 at the Black Box Theatre, 5213 Homberg Drive

Led by Lysistrata, the women of ancient Greece decide to withhold sex from their husbands until they bring the long-running Peloponnesian War to a peaceful conclusion.

Though the Peloponnesian War was a civil conflict between Greek factions, "Lysistrata" has been interpreted in modern times as a broad anti-war statement. It also has a feminist spin as it portrays women as policy makers.

The bawdy play finds the phallus-sporting Greek husbands becoming increasingly frustrated as they pound fruitlessly against their wives’ impenetrable fortresses.

The comically oversized phalluses — a common device employed in ancient Greek theater — come in a variety of lengths in the Actors Co-op production. The appendages grow as the play goes on, reflecting the increasing frustrations of the menfolk.

"This is a sex romp of a comedy," says director Amy Hubbard. "It’s a hot, wet, fast production. You don’t think about the heavy stuff until the end."

But any parallels to the Iraq War are definitely intended.

The Actors Co-op’s 11th season celebrates the hits of its first decade, including "Lysistrata," first presented by the company in 2002.

Hubbard directed that production, too. She says the 2007 edition is about "70 percent fresh." Sara Schwabe is back as Lysistrata. So is Greg Congleton as the Leader of Men, a character that incorporates the male chorus from the original script.

But most of the company is new, as is most of the director’s approach to telling the story. Hubbard says she drew on her previous experience with the play to "go deeper into it" this time around.

"I’ve discovered a lot of new things," she says. The 2002 production came at the beginning of the United States’ military involvement in Iraq. The play is being revisited at a time when even previous supporters of the war are calling for it to end.

One direct parallel Hubbard draws from "Lysistrata" to a war happening nearly 2,500 years later is the attitudes of the male leaders. The men in "Lysistrata" advise the women to stay out of state affairs. She says the Bush administration wants the same thing from all opponents of the war.

The Actors Co-op’s "Greatest Hits" season will continue with:

• Caryl Churchill’s "Vinegar Tom," Sept. 27-Oct. 13 (first presented in 1999). The "play about witches without any witches in it" examines the connection between the fear of female sexuality and 17th-century witch hysteria.
• "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," Nov. 23-Dec. 3 (first presented in 2005). The Actors Co-op has suspended its children’s series at the 80-seat Black Box Theatre to present this single show at the Bijou Theatre. Hubbard says this allows the Co-op to offer school matinees and serve a larger number of youths, especially those with limited arts opportunities.
• "The Santaland Diaries," Dec. 13-22 (first presented as a staged reading in 1998). Author-monologist David Sedaris’ darkly hilarious account of working as an elf in Macy’s Santaland.
• "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris," Feb. 7-23, 2008 (first presented in 2006). Musical revue of the songs of Belgian songwriter Jacques Brel.
• "Le Cage Noir’s Springtime Cabaret," March 20-28, 2008 (annual fundraiser).
• "The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum at Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis De Sade," April 24-May 10, 2008. The Co-op looks forward by ending its 11th season with a show not previously presented by the company. "Marat/Sade" is a company showcase that will be developed over 10 months of textual analysis and rehearsals. The project is intended to strengthen the "group mind" of The Actors Co-op company members.

The membership is Hubbard, Schwabe, Congleton, Sarah Campbell, Ellen Chemay, Jon Chemay, Jacques Durand, Rob Link, Dennis E. Perkins and Casey Smith.

By Doug Mason (Contact)
Sunday, July 22, 2007

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.