In a modern day production of Lysistrata, a director’s role would involve the overseeing of the whole play making course and ensuring that all the cast members realize the vision of the production. This role covers all the steps of production from the interpretation of the script to the final performance. This means that the director has a say over a range of disciplines and has to have artistic vision. Lysistrata was produced in 411 B.C., at a time when Athens and Sparta had just concluded a two-decade long war and the general population was in despair. Comedies such as these were used then to communicate instructions to the people (mbc.edu). This essay will focus on the scene where Lysistrata has gathered all the women to convinces the to withhold sex from their husbands until they sign a peace treaty. To realize the vision of the play, the script, set-up, costumes, stagecraft, sound design, and acting have to communicate a unified message with which the audience will relate. The script will be tailored to ensure that the audience can understand the play as it proceeds. This is in terms of the language and terms used. Though the language will not be modern, it will be English that can be understood by the audience. This will be English of antique England as it will give the play a feeling of ancient times. The scriptwriter will carry out research on the level of understanding the local people will have of ancient English so as to ascertain that the script matches this level. Although many plays of that era were sung and accompanied by dance, this play will be acted out with spoken word rather than songs. This is because speaking will ensure the audience hears the conversations as they go on and that they understand. This is ... ... middle of paper ... ...number of people cast will also change. Additionally, the actors will speak and not sing the words. This is to ensure a flow of dialogue in a plausible manner that people today would believe. The actors will be instructed to emulate the words and body language typical of Greeks from the set era. The stage will be set to ascertain visibility to every member of the audience, with Lysistrata standing on a raised platform while addressing the women. All these aspects combined will ensure everyone understands and enjoys the play. Works Cited Mary Baldwin College. Lysistrata (Aristophanes, 411 BCE). Web. 6 February 2014 http://www.mbc.edu/faculty/vfrancisco/TheaEurope/lysistrata.htm (2014). Perseus Digital Library. Aristophanes’ Lysistrata. Jack Lindsey, Ed. Web. 6 February 2014 from www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc+Perseus:abo:tlg,0019,007:168&lang+original
In her essay on, “Athenian Women,” Sarah Ruden points out that Aristophanes in Lysistrata portray women as supportive of Athenian institutions and eager to save them. But she cautions, “To do this now they must flout law, religion, and every notion of public decency – and this is definitely no reflection on women’s attitudes, but mere satirical farce and fantasy” (Ruden 107). An important element of “satirical farce” in this spirit would be a heavy use of repetition to make people laugh at the weakness being satirized. One example would not be enough, and the audience might not be amused by less than three or four examples. So in important episodes that fill out the action of the play, we have 4 examples of women beating guards,
Recently, I had the pleasure of seeing the fall production of Argonautika at the Westmont High School Theater directed by Jeff Bengford and written by Mary Zimmerman. Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of Argonautika carefully selects which pieces of a Greek story to emphasize, where to begin and end the story, and which characters to feature. Argonautika is very much an ensemble piece, with every actor standing out in multiple roles. Her version focuses on Jason and Medea and begins with an invocation by the chorus that summarizes the story of Helle and Phrixus. The last showing on November 21st of Argonautika by the Westmont High School Performing Arts Department, was exciting beginning to end. Bengford’s production Argonautika greatly captures the intentions of Mary Zimmerman’s playwright into an exciting play for the audience.
shall firstly do a summery of the play and give a basic image of what
Euripides manipulates the characters, through contrast, to explore or challenge Greek society’s gender roles of female and male behavior through the stereotypes that are established within his plays. In the play Medea, we observe the protagonist challenging the traditional patriarchal system of Greek society and empowering herself throughout the play using the stereotype of feminine behavior in order to manipulate the males (Barlow 163) We observe this through her manipulation of King Creon. The king states, “I order you to go from this land”[;] she then is able to manipulate the king, successfully, for another day (272). The empowerment through this exchange is viewed when the king states, “[W]hy are you applying force, refusing to release my hand?” (339) This line is the first sign of Medea taking control of her destiny, no longer allowing the males to determine it for her. As Barlow points out, “Medea’s ability to “[dissociate] herself not just with women’s stereotypes as they are commonly accepted by women as well as men, but more impor...
Medea and Lysistrata are two Greek literatures that depict the power which women are driven to achieve in an aim to defy gender inequality. In The Medea, Medea is battling against her husband Jason whom she hates. On the other hand, in Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the protagonist Lysistrata plotted to convince and organize the female gender to protest against the stubbornness of men. In terms of defining the purpose of these two literatures, it is apparent that Euripedes and Aristophanes created characters that demonstrate resistance against the domination of men in the society.
Theatrical performance is vital not only to the presentation of Hamlet and Othello, but it is vital to each of the play's respective stories. Several key characters control, manipulate, or script a theatrical performance of their own. Through subtle suggestion and explicit or implicit storytelling, Shakespeare's use of theatrical performance within his own plays underscores the subversive power of the theater.
Aristophanes play Lysistrata takes place during the Peloponnesian War and the women of Greece are tired of their men being at war. Greek women want to preserve the traditional way of life in their community. With this in mind, Lysistrata calls all the women of Greece together and devises a plan. She argues that if the women all participate in two activities, their men will end the war. Her proposals are that the women hold a sexual strike against the men. She urged the women to dress in sexy clothing but refuse sexual activity with the men. The second part of her proposal is that the women take over the acropolis. The old women are to do this first, while the younger women are having the strike.
... convey deeper themes of life and death, the struggles between power and class structure and also the societal differences between men and women. Aristophanes uses humor to hook his audience into his play, and then undermines the surface humor with much bigger thematic issues. If this play had simply been about women withholding sex for other reasons such as wanting more money for shopping or other frivolous ideas it would not then be considered a satiric comedy. Satire requires more than physical humor. An issue must be raised such as the life and death theme that is seen in the war in Lysistrata, and a solution must then be made. Aristophanes created the women in the beginning to be bickering, unintelligent, and self-centered people. But in the end it was their idea and compromise that ended the war.
In Greek classics, it is common knowledge that in that era women and men were considered unequal. Men were superior, and in most cases women were not even fit for citizenship. It is in this atmosphere and time period that Aristophanes wrote Lysistrata. The play itself is supposed to be a comedy, although the actions of the women do not seem amusing. Instead, the women’s actions, especially the main character Lysistrata, seem incredibly brave. Lysistrata rounds up her “troop” of all the women in Athens and a Spartan woman. They take charge of the acropolis and refuse to settle for anything less than a peace treaty to end the war. The only problem with this is, in ending the war, they will be bringing back the men from their duty and end up in the same social caste system as they were from the beginning. Aristophanes seems to make the point that – the only power women hold is their sexuality (Rex Par. 7). The Athenian women can withdraw from their husbands for however long they like, they still end up givi...
The production of the work Lysistrata would not be in vane. Aristophanes had the right attitude when writing such a work. After reviewing the script I feel it would be to the benefit of our society if we produce this play to the great city of Athens. It will provide entertainment, a gathering for all citizens, and an insight on what we should consider for ourselves. A sense of the reality of war and its fundamentals will set in most likely after viewing the production. There are no winners in a war, only those who are lost, or have lost various things. This could start a trend of peace throughout the area of Greece, and nothing but good can come of that. No edits, no rewording, just the work as it was intended would be mostly beneficial to the Athenian community. Consider the alternatives.
“Lysistrata” is a tale which is centered around an Athenian woman named Lysistrata and her comrades who have taken control of the Acropolis in Athens. Lysistrata explains to the old men how the women have seized the Acropolis to keep men from using the money to make war and to keep dishonest officials from stealing the money. The opening scene of “Lysistrata” enacts the stereotypical and traditional characterization of women in Greece and also distances Lysistrata from this overused expression, housewife character. The audience is met with a woman, Lysistrata, who is furious with the other women from her country because they have not come to discuss war with her. The basic premise of the play is, Lysistrata coming up with a plan to put an end to the Peloponnesian War which is currently being fought by the men. After rounding up the women, she encourages them to withhold sex until the men agree to stop fighting. The women are difficult to convince, although eventually they agree to the plan. Lysistrata also tells the women if they are beaten, they may give in, since sex which results from violence will not please the men. Finally, all the women join Lysistrata in taking an oath to withhold sex from their mates. As a result of the women refraining from pleasing their husbands until they stop fighting the war, the play revolves around a battle of the sexes. The battle between the women and men is the literal conflict of the play. The war being fought between the men is a figurative used to lure the reader to the actual conflict of the play which is the battle between men and women.
The play Lysistrata takes on a lot of gender roles, and the views of woman and men in the play are of a stereotypical point of view. There is a lot of gender power and a reversal of traditional gender roles by weakening the theory that men hold real power in society. The woman mostly Lysistrata show through actions, that they are more effective at provoking change.
The play up for discussion is the Kingsborough’s Community College spring production of Two Gentlemen of Verona The Musical. This is a musical adaptation of the original Shakespearean play The Two Gentlemen of Verona. In this essay the Kingsborough’s Community College spring production of Two Gentlemen of Verona The Musical, the original Shakespearean play and five former plays adaptations, themes, and characters will be evaluated. The first is Euripides 431 B.C. E. play Medea, the second is the 148 A.D. Latin play, The Menaechmi by Plautus, the third is the 1509 play Everyman by an anonymous playwright during the Tudor period, the fourth is the 1671 three-act comedy play The Impostures of Scapin by French playwright Moliere and the fifth is the 1604 Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. Even though there have been modern adaptations of these plays the theme and the recurring motif remains the same and it still probes into the life of humans.
The medieval age also saw some of the greatest contributions to theater. The biggest influence on later theater was the changing of the language used in the plays from Latin to the vernacular. This was crucial in spreading drama as it allowed the lower classes to understand the performances and contributed to the expansion of theater across Europe in the R...
Greek and Elizabethan theatre, while similar in some respects, had a few large differences. The Greeks believed in a certain unity of theme, which was prevalent throughout the production. Greek plays were often drawn from myth or of historical significance, so it seems that only ki...