By CARRIE NEAL
A Seat on the Aisle
Bard Fest continues its inclusion of “The Prestige Project” in the Indy-area fall theatre festival, which is to say, presenting a play that is not written by Shakespeare alongside other Elizabethan-era offerings. In the past, this piece has typically been a modern theatre classic, but this year we go all the way back to ancient Greece for the source material, with Lysistrata by Aristophanes, and a topic that could not be more timely.
The scene: the men of Greece (actually, Greek-named characters in an unspecified modern-day U.S. locale), are at war. Again. They are unceasingly going into battle, and the women are fed up! The females may not be schooled in the traditional arts of war, but they possess a weapon that may just be the most powerful one of all: withholding sex until the men stop fighting.
Director Holly Hathaway-Thompson chooses to set the action of the play in the fall of 2020, which seems fitting given the chaos that COVID brought into all our lives that year. The juxtaposition of modern dress against a backdrop of traditional Doric columns is pleasing and gives a subtle nod to the timelessness of the play’s subject matter. Hathaway-Thompson also wrote the adaptation, which must have required a major effort given the plethora of contemporary references in the script.
The play is bookended by a prologue and epilogue between a grandmother (Miki Mathioudakis) and her granddaughter (Missy Waaland), both of whom are utterly natural and delightful. Together they look back on the tumult of 2020 from an unnamed date in the future. Mathioudakis also plays the character Calonice, and when she emerges at the top of the first scene with a more youthful look and demeanor, we realize we’d gone into the past before heading into the main body of the play.
Lysistrata is a brisk 90-minute piece including intermission, and the action gets moving right away. As we begin Act I, the women are greatly dissatisfied to find their husbands off at war once more, and it doesn’t take much for Lysistrata (Carrie Reiberg) to convince them that her plan to deny sex to their men is the best way to proceed. As expected, the male contingent is not at all pleased by this turn of events. They express their displeasure in various ways, but the most vocal are the Leader of Men (Robert Webster) and the Magistrate (Eric Bryant), both of whom are most effective as buffoons expressing their outrage.
We get an insight into just one marital relationship and the specific frustrations brought about by this sexual withholding, ably portrayed by Matthew Socey as Cinesias and Jessica Hawkins as Myrrhine. The wife exults in tempting and teasing her husband, so much so that we almost feel bad for him. Almost. This seems like a good time to state that this isn’t a show to bring the kids to, which is also stated clearly on the Bard Fest website. There is quite a bit of sexual innuendo, groping, and grabbing of one’s own body parts. These things are absolutely essential to the storyline, but not something that all may be comfortable with.
I cannot express strongly enough how pertinent this play, first mounted in 411 B.C., is to contemporary life and politics. Honestly, though it’s a bawdy satire intended to shock and amuse, it made me a little sad. Perhaps a play that’s well over 2,000 years old shouldn’t feel quite so relevant in the year 2022. But it does, and like the best comedies, it is thought-provoking and does so much more than make us laugh.
Addressing political issues without being preachy can be a difficult balancing act, and Hathaway-Thompson’s adaptation succeeds more fully in some scenes than others. “The Great Dream,” a scene towards the end of the show where all the women are hopeful about the changes that may yet come to pass, feels a little forced. But the preceding scene, “The Great Insect,” feels honest and true. In it the Leader of Men (Robert Webster) and the Leader of Women (MaryAnne Mathews) are arguing about the women’s tactics. He is unable to see her perspective at all yet is filled with gratitude when she removes a bug from his eye. Given the current political climate, her line “things do seem so much bigger when they directly affect us” brought a lump to my throat when I least expected it.
Bottom line: while it may not be for everyone, Lysistrata is an entertaining, fast-paced romp that is well worth seeing. It runs through Oct. 16 at The Cat in Carmel, located at 254 Veterans Way. Tickets may be purchased at the door or online at indybardfest.com.
Read more great play reviews from A Seat on the Aisle at asota.wordpress.com.