As
the play begins, Lysistrata, who may be played by a Black soprano, is waiting
for women to show up to a meeting she has called. When they arrive, Lysistrata
tells them of the horrors of the war and of the need for action against
it. All the women are agreed and they promise to do anything. Lysistrata
informs them her plan is to organize a sex-strike against the men, whom
she holds responsible for the war. At first a terrible prospect for the
women, they eventually give in to her plan and swear an oath to uphold
it.
A week later, the women have seized the sacred
Acropolis.
The Temple of Athena becomes their headquarters. The leaders of Athens,
Richard Stillouse Noxious, Spiral Upyou, General Wantsmorewar and Democratea
Diarrhea, are livid with rage at this news. Democratea tells of his feats
of past terror and asks if a "mere woman" shall defy him. When
the men are confronted by the armed women, he recognizes that they really
do dare to defy him, and after some exchanges of hostility, a stalemate
is reached. But by the end of Act I Lysistrata's plans have not been meeting
with much success.
A c t
. 2
(Several Days Later)
Finding
morale among
the women was getting lower each day, Lysistrata had visited an Oracle
for advice (but she misunderstands the Oracle's meaning, taking the word
"Doves" to mean women, and "Hawks" to mean men in the
Oracle's message).
Soon, Proletarius comes to the Acropolis to beg his wife
Myrrhina, to come home. Myrrhina and Lysistrata arrange to make an example
of him to all men, hoping thus to add impetus to their bogging-down plans
to force the war's conclusion.
Later, a Spartan Herald appears with a plea from Sparta
to make peace, because in Sparta, under the leadership of Lysistrata's
friend, Sexpotchki, the women there, too, have called a sex-strike. Democratea
privately confers with General Wantsmorewar (and others) and outlines with
them a scheme to arrange fake peace negotiations to get the women off their
backs (intending nevertheless to continue the war for economic reasons).
However, his plot is overheard by a woman.
Informed of the plot, Lysistrata now recognizes the real
meaning of the Oracle's message: War comes from social classes and not
sex. Seeking Proletarius, this time she organizes both women and men too
and she intervenes in the phony peace talks, exposing and arresting Democratea
and his crew. Soon after, real peace terms are struck and the war is ended.
(Back to Lysistrata page. Some Opera
humour:
Night at the
oopera)
.
In order for us to reduce getting spam from junk-mailer
programs,
click on the e-mail button, and then
before e-mailing
us,remove the '+' symbol from our
address
