History Theatre / Lysistrata

** It should be noted that unlike in modern culture where size equates to virility, in Ancient Greek culture the size of your member correlates to how much control you have over your sexual urges (the smaller the better). You can guess what this implies about the men in the play.

* IncidentalMultilingualWordplay: Several dirty jokes from the original Greek work just as well for modern audiences, provided they're given the obvious translation.
** At a meeting of the women, Lampito's tardiness is noted by the rest -- of course she's late, because Spartan women ''never'' come on time.
** At one point, Lysistrata admits that [[AllWomenAreLustful the women aren't finding the sex strike any easier than the men are]]. The faithful woman to whom she speaks cries out "Zeus help us!", to which Lysistrata winces and says [[ThePornomancer there's no need to get HIM involved in this]]. At least one translator has rendered the conversation thusly: "...''We'' want to get laid, too." "By Zeus!" "No, not by ''him!''"

* LuckyTranslation: Several dirty jokes from the original Greek work just as well for modern audiences, provided they're given the obvious translation.
** At a meeting of the women, Lampito's tardiness is noted by the rest -- of course she's late, because Spartan women ''never'' come on time.
** At one point, Lysistrata admits that [[AllWomenAreLustful the women aren't finding the sex strike any easier than the men are]]. The faithful woman to whom she speaks cries out "Zeus help us!", to which Lysistrata winces and says [[ThePornomancer there's no need to get HIM involved in this]]. At least one translator has rendered the conversation thusly: "...''We'' want to get laid, too." "By Zeus!" "No, not by ''him!''"

* DirtyOldMan: And DirtyOldWoman while you're at it! The Chorus of the play are the retirees of Athens, who constantly crack sexy jokes about the proceedings.

* OldMaid: In Lysistrata's speech about how women bear the cost of war, she mentions the unmarried virgins who aren't able to get husbands because they've [[ChristmasCake aged out of their prime]] by the time the men come home.

* BuxomBeautyStandard: "Reconciliation," the naked woman on which the men mark out their choice of territories, is played by an actor in a body stocking stuffed out to ludicrous proportions.

* DistractedByTheSexy: To really thrust the point home, Lysistrata brings a voluptuous woman named "Reconciliation" to the peace negotiations. Then ''maps the territories in dispute on her body.''

* GirlsVsBoysPlot: Lysistrata and the women face off against the male leadership of Athens. This is reflected in the quarrel between the Old Men and the Old Women of the Chorus, who have lengthy arguments about the superiority of their respective genders. (Bear in mind, this amount of public agency from women is all PlayedForLaughs.)

* IronicName: The Old Men (who are so decrepit that it takes an entire chorus just for them to walk across the stage) have names like "Swifty."

* MoodWhiplash: Take into consideration why this was considered a comedy in Aristophanes' time: Women weren't considered citizens, coming in after poor citizens and before slaves. Hellenic comedies were meant to display ideas that were ridiculous, and this play's was the idea that a group of women could take over Greece's government. Women were also basically the property of men -- first their fathers, then their husbands.
** Uber-feminist Germaine Greer's adaptation creates even more mood whiplash by contrasting the silly, child-like Society Women (the group to which Lysistrata belongs) with the poor, working-class Cleaning Women. In particular, the character of Katina has had her husband, father-in-law, and brother (all the men in her life that she relies on and who would normally support her) all taken off to fight in the war, and are probably dead (it's implied that the wealthy men who are serving don't see any fighting--only the working-class men). Then, her mother-in-law dies, leaving Katina by herself on the farm. Unable to run the farm on her own, Katina escapes with a group fleeing the fighting, and along the way, prematurely gives birth, and the baby dies. This is all before the play. During the play, she's nearly raped (with implications that she may have been raped before, prior to leaving the farm). Looking at things realistically, Katina's only option, having no men to support her, is probably to become a prostitute.

* OrAreYouJustHappyToSeeMe: Perhaps the UrExample, as said by the Magistrate: "But look, you are hiding a lance under your clothes, surely."

--> Athenian: And he's got a list!

-->Lampito: La! you are feeling me as if I were a beast for sacrifice.

** TruthInTelevision: Spartan women were the only women in Greece who were allowed to take part in public exercise along with men. They also used to crop their hair short (though ironically, this made them look ''less'' like Spartan men, who'd grow their hair out in the belief that this would make them stronger.)

* BuxomIsBetter: "Reconciliation," the naked woman on which the men mark out their choice of territories, is played by an actor in a body stocking stuffed out to ludicrous proportions.

* INeedToGoIronMyDog: Halfway through the sex strike, Lysistrata's women attempt to flee the Parthenon, pledging excuses like neglected housework. She puts a stop to it by reciting (or more likely, making up) a prophecy saying they will succeed if they stick together.

* PhonyVeteran: One interpretation of the old men of the Chorus, who claim to have been involved in battles that took place almost a century before the time of the play. (The other interpretation is that they really ''are'' that old).

The play takes place during UsefulNotes/ThePeloponnesianWar, when the men of Athens and Sparta were embroiled in a hard, sweaty, nasty conflict. Lysistrata, an Athenian woman who is sick of all this war nonsense, manages to convince the women from several city-states (including Sparta) to come together for a meeting, wherein she proposes a dramatic tactic: all of them should swear an oath of chastity until the men agree to make peace. (As a more practical measure they take possession of the Acropolis, which contains Athens' war chest). The menfolk initially find the whole thing ridiculous -- in Ancient Greece, AllWomenAreLustful -- and indeed Lysistrata must constantly prevent her co-conspirators from sneaking out to [[UnusualEuphemism engage enemy forces]]. But with the women's resolve shown to be firm and upstanding, the menfolk, their ability to make war now wilted and slumping, and tormented by [[RagingStiffie enormous, err, burdens]], agree to work out a peace treaty. Celebration ensues.

And if you think that the previous summary was full of hot and steamy innuendo, you should be aware that the play itself is a hell of a lot raunchier. We're not joking about the burdens: the costumes for male characters include a GagPenis. Oh, and, the vow sworn by the women includes very explicit detail of what they are forswearing, such as agreeing not to "[[HeadTiltinglyKinky crouch like the lioness on the cheese grater]]" (No, we don't know what that means either. It's been lost to the mists of time. All we have from the historical record is a menu from a Greek brothel, on which this position is [[ComicSutra the most expensive act you can purchase from a prostitute]]. Imaginations, start your engines).

* AccentAdaptation: often necessary when actually producing this play -- and, indeed, many ancient Greek plays, as they frequently include accent-based humor. British English translations tend to use Scots accents for the Spartans; US translations have been known to use Texas accents.

* AllMenArePerverts: An inversion of the Greek gender norms, but social drift has made the increasing desperation of the deprived men, and such tidbits as literally using a naked woman as a living map for negotiations so as to keep them too pent-up to argue, funny in an entirely different way.

** It helps that this is a big part of the women's ''motivation'' for their LysistrataGambit in the first place: they're frustrated that the men are off making war instead of home having sex with ''them''.

* GagPenis: The male actors are supposed to wear fake oversized phalluses just to drive home their, er, frustration.

''Film/ChiRaq'' by Creator/SpikeLee is loosely inspired by this play.

* PizzaBoySpecialDelivery: When the women first take control of the treasury, the Athenian commissioner laments how the men haven't kept their wives in line. Among other things, he blames the practice of workmen going to the house while the husband is out, on the paper-thin pretext of fixing the wife's bracelet or sandal.

* StopBeingStereotypical: On a couple of occasions, Lysistrata tells her fellow women to man up, since being weak-minded and venial is the reason they don't get any good dramatic roles.
* UnbuiltTrope: Aristophanes wrote the play as a farce, which ridiculed female empowerment. Later interpretations of the LysistrataGambit are usually portrayed more seriously and positively.

* GreekChorus: Composed primarily of the aforementioned Dirty Old People.

* BatteringRam: The women barricade themselves in the Acropolis and vowed to withhold sex from their husbands. So we get a scene where the much-deprived men of Athens [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything grab a big trunk of wood and ram it against the doors of the Acropolis again and again]], desperately trying to force their way inside...

* PhonyVeteran: One interpretation of the old men of the Chorus, who claim to have been involved in battles almost a century before the time of the play. (The other interpretation is that they really ''are'' that old).

The play takes place during UsefulNotes/ThePeloponnesianWar, when the men of Athens and Sparta were embroiled in a hard, sweaty, nasty conflict. Lysistrata, an Athenian woman who is sick of all this war nonsense, manages to convince the women from several city-states (including Sparta) to come together for a meeting, wherein she proposes a dramatic tactic: all of them should swear an oath of celibacy until the men agree to make peace. (As a more practical measure they take possession of the Acropolis, which contains Athens' treasury). The menfolk initially find the whole thing ridiculous -- in Ancient Greece, AllWomenAreLustful -- and indeed Lysistrata must constantly prevent her co-conspirators from sneaking out to [[UnusualEuphemism engage enemy forces]]. But with the women's resolve shown to be firm and upstanding, the menfolk, their ability to make war now wilted and slumping, and tormented by [[RagingStiffie enormous, err, burdens]], agree to work out a peace treaty. Celebration ensues.

* AccentAdaptation: often necessary when actually producing this play--and, indeed, many ancient Greek plays, as they frequently include accent-based humor. British English translations tend to use Scots accents for the Spartans; US translations have been known to use Texas accents.

* CulturalTranslation: The accents of Athens and Sparta were of great importance in the original play, so English adaptations have to use regional American and British accents for the Athenians and Spartans to convey the same feel.

* DirtyOldMan: And DirtyOldWoman while you're at it! The Chorus of the play, who constantly crack sexy jokes about the proceedings, are the aged population of the city.

* DistractedByTheSexy: To really thrust the point home, Lysistrata invites a voluptuous woman named "Reconciliation" to the peace negotiations. Then ''maps the territories in dispute on her body.''

The play takes place during UsefulNotes/ThePeloponnesianWar, when Athens and Sparta were embroiled in a hard, sweaty, nasty conflict. Lysistrata, an Athenian woman who is sick of all this war nonsense, manages to convince a large group of women from several city-states (including Sparta) to come together for a meeting, wherein she proposes a dramatic tactic: they (the women) should swear a vow to bring about the end of the war by refusing to have sex with their men until there is peace. As a more practical measure they seize hold of the root of the war effort: the Acropolis, which contains Athens' treasury. The menfolk laugh at the absurdity of this idea: in Ancient Greece, AllWomenAreLustful, and indeed Lysistrata and her friend Calonice must constantly prevent their co-conspirators from sneaking out to, shall we say, [[UnusualEuphemism engage enemy forces]]. With the women's resolve shown to be firm and upstanding, the menfolk, their ability to make war now wilted and slumping, and tormented by [[RagingStiffie enormous, err, burdens]], agree to work out a peace treaty. Celebration ensues.

** An audio version with Hermione Gingold as Lysistrata ha all the upper-class Athenians speaking BBC English, the lower-class Athenians speaking semi-Cockney, the Spartans speaking US Southern, and other Greeks speaking various rural British accents.

* MoodWhiplash: Take into consideration why this was considered a comedy in Aristophanes' time: Women weren't considered citizens, coming in after poor citizens and before slaves. Hellenic comedies were meant to display ideas that were ridiculous, and this play's was the idea that a group of women could take over Greece's government. Women were also basically the property of men--first their fathers, then their husbands.

%%* VolleyingInsults

%%* DancePartyEnding

%%* DoubleEntendre: How many? Why, all of them, of course!

%%* SexComedy

* UnbuiltTrope: Aristophanes wrote the play as a farce, which ridiculed female empowerment. Later interpretations of the LysistrataGambit are usually more literal, as a feminist strategy.
%%* UnresolvedSexualTension: To the ''extreme''.

* An audio version with Hermione Gingold as Lysistrata ha all the upper-class Athenians speaking BBC English, the lower-class Athenians speaking semi-Cockney, the Spartans speaking US Southern, and other Greeks speaking various rural British accents.

%%* AllMenArePerverts

%%* DirtyOldMan
%%* DirtyOldWoman

%%* RagingStiffie: All the guys end up with these.