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Aristophanes helped shape comedy ... despite their often fantasical premises, were fairly consistently concerned with contemporary politics and social institutions. ... mildly aristocratic ... patriotic ... suspicious of social innovation ... sympathetic to the struggles of the common people ... unrestrained in insult ... exuberantly bawdy.
Playwright Einhorn, known for his comic absurdist plays, translates the ancient Greek humor for a modern audience. Complete with essays, selected sheet music, and a second version of the play for inventive directors, this newest adaptation focuses on war, sex, and, most of all, laughter. (Plays/Drama)
Aristophanes (ca. 456 BC - ca. 386 BC) was a Greek Old Comic dramatist. He is also known as the Father of Comedy and the Prince of Ancient Comedy. "Lysistrata" was written during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta and argues not so much for pacifism as for the idea that the states ought not be fighting one another at this point but combining to rule Greece.
Most readers nowadays encounter the plays of Aristophanes in the classroom, not the theater. Yet the "father of comedy" wrote his plays for the stage, not as literary texts. Many English translations of the plays were written decades ago, and in their outdated language they fail to capture the dramatic liveliness of the original comedies. Now Michael Ewans offers new and lively translations of three of Aristophanes' finest plays: Lysistrata, The Women's Festival, and Frogs. While remaining faithful to the original Greek, these translations are accessible to a modern audience—and actable on stage. Here readers will discover—in all its uncensored glory—the often raw sexual and scatological language Aristophanes used in his fantastically inventive works. This edition also contains all that a reader needs to understand the plays within a broader context. In his comprehensive introduction, Ewans discusses political and social aspects of Aristophanic comedy, the conventions of Greek theater, and the challenges of translating ancient Greek into modern English. In his theatrical commentaries—a unique feature of this edition—Ewans draws on his own experience of directing the plays in a replica of the original theater. In scene-by-scene analysis, he provides insight into the major issues each play raises in performance. The volume concludes with two glossaries—one of proper names and the other of Greek terms—as well as a bibliography that includes the most recent scholarship on Aristophanic comedy.
"There is no beast, no rush of fire, like woman so untamed. She calmly goes her way where even panthers would be shamed." ― Aristophanes, Lysistrata Lysistrata is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes. It tells the story of the extraordinary mission of women to end a three-decade conflict- the Peloponnesian War. Lysistrata, the title character, leads the women of the warring Greek city-states in a sex strike in hopes to persuade their husbands to stop the fighting. The older women of Athens seized control of Acropolis and the state treasury in it for, without money, men cannot fund their war. Old men arrived with woods and burning coals. They plan to smoke the women out of the Acropolis but a group of old women throws water at them, putting out their fires. A man who is desperate for sex appears and pleads. His wife teases and leads him on but leaves him hanging to torture him further. Several other men tried to get through the women but none succeeded Will this method prove to be effective in ending a war? Add to cart and get your copy now!
The first new edition in almost sixty years, this volume of Aristophanes' Lysistrata brings the play completely up to date with modern scholarship, providing the first complete account of its history and containing new information about the comic theater and its social and political context. Lysistrata not only brims with topical references to social life, religion, and politics in classical Athens; it is also one of our best sources for information on the life of women in antiquity, offering a unique glimpse of their everyday life.
In Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the women of Athens, fed up with the war against Sparta, go on a sex strike and barricade themselves into the acropolis to persuade their husbands to vote against the war. It is the most often performed of all Aristophanes' comedies. It is also, perhaps, the most misunderstood. This collection of essays by eight leading academics - written for sixth-form students and the general public alike - sets the play firmly in its historical and social context, while exploring Aristophanes' purpose in writing it and considering the responses of modern audiences and directors. The collection has been assembled and edited by David Stuttard, whose energetic new performing version of the play is included in this volume. Contributors include: Alan Beale; Edith Hall; Lorna Hardwick; James Morwood; Martin Revermann; James Robson; Alan H. Sommerstein; Michael Walton.
