‘Lysistrata’ Explores Male-Female Dynamics in Comedic Fashion

Theater Review

 By Charise Wallace

Get ready for an amazing surprise as the men and women during the Peloponnesian War take forth on a battle between the sexes and controlling relationships. The play was staged Nov. 14 in the Fine and Performing Arts Center. The play briefly explained the dynamics of relationships and sex, when leader, Lysistrata gathers her ladies to restrain their sexual behaviors toward their husbands.

The amusing scenery of the play is filled with splattered paint, colorful balloons (that were passed out the audience), and women and men in masks, pajamas and spiritual attires. In the beginning, the wives and husbands (leaving out Lysistrata) come together in a spiritual healing yelling, “Make Love! Not War!” Lysistrata is in for a rude-awakening as the story continues for her mission to yield her beautiful ladies from giving their husbands what they really want. But they cannot fight their desire as much as their men can’t either, as they start to day-dream about other objects and even food that is related to sex.

Lysistrata and her husband fight until the end as she yields her conflict of interest. But as they battle with their fist flying in the air, they realize that their anger built-up for one another holds irony, as Lysistrata and her husband become aroused for each other’s love. The story is comical, but it still holds the valuable question: Can husbands and wives really restrain their sexual behaviors?