Napier Repertory's end-of-year production for 2016 Lysistrata, is intriguing and should not to be missed. The comedy, written by Aristophanes in the time of the ancient Greeks, is a comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end the Peloponnesian War.
It was originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC.
Heroine Lysistrata persuades the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands and lovers as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace-a strategy, however, that inflames the battle between the sexes.
The play is notable for being an early expose of sexual relations in a male-dominated society. But this strategy leads to an all-out war between the sexes and some hard bargaining from the boys. But first the women have to overcome some challenges too, not least the call of their own desires.
Speaking about the play, director Ken Keys says, "Aristophanes' anti-war play has been 'on the go' for more than 2000 years and, sadly (see Syria), its relevance will never diminish. During the Iraqi war, for instance, dozens of productions of Lysistrata were staged, by way of protest, across the USA."