Looking at Lysistrata: Eight Essays and a New Version of Aristophanes' Provocative Comedy

by Bloomsbury Publishing

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472519962
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	11/01/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	168
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

David Stuttard has directed his own translations and adaptations of Greek drama throughout the UK and in classical theatres in Turkey and Albania. His publications include An Introduction to Trojan Women (2005) and, AD 410, The Year That Shook Rome (2010).
David Stuttard is an independent scholar and Fellow of Goodenough College, London, UK. He has directed his own translations and adaptations of Greek drama throughout the UK and in classical theatres in Turkey and Albania. He is the founder of the theatre company Actors of Dionysus and has edited five 'Looking at' volumes for Bloomsbury: Lysistrata (2010), Medea (2014), Bacchae (2016), Antigone (2017), Ajax (2019) and Agamemnon (2021).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
List of contributors
Introduction to Lysistrata, David Stuttard
1. Where is the Spine? J Michael Walton
2. The Upside down world of Aristophanes' Lysistrata, James Morwood
3. the many faces of Lysistrata, Edith Hall
4. Lysistrata the Warrior, Alan H. Sommerstein
5. Friends and Foes: The People of Lysistrata, James Robson
6. Fantasy and Plot in Lysistrata, Alan Beale
7. On Misunderstanding in Lysistrata, Productively, Martin Revermann
8. Lysistrata on the Modern Stage, Lorna Hardwick
Lysistrata, or Loose Strife, a modern version by David Stuttard
Suggested Further Reading
Index