WTF IS LYSISTRATA?

LYSISTRATA follows a group of ferocious women as they take a stand against war by refusing to have sex with their husbands (and take over the city's financial and political epicentre, but that's far less scandalous). Throw in an all-female/queer cast and crew, language pulled straight from the original text and the comments section of a Twitter argument, and a hardy dose of female rageand you've got an emblematic theatrePUNK co. show. Taking a deep stab at questions of activism, womanhood, and queerness, LYSISTRATA is a dagger-edged, glittered new take on an iconic story of women doing what we do best: fight.

LYSISTRATA brings glamour to Greece and flamboyancy to feminism as El Waddingham shoves Aristophanes’ original text into a world of bad bitches, boy’s clubs and bitcoin. Sprinkled with glitter and splashed with pink, making this play come to life has been an aesthetic maximalist’s dream come true. However, underneath the sparkling surface lies a hard-hitting message. Bold and unafraid, LYSISTRATA explores the power in standing up for what you believe in, and what it means to be a good activist. There is no formula. There is no black and white, right or wrong. There’s just a gut feeling and what you decide to do with it. Everybody fights in a different way.

Sexism and misogyny rages on now, just as it has raged on before. Political theatre in itself is a method of fighting these issues. However, LYSISTRATA breaks free from the stereotype that dictates that it must be purely serious. It’s just simply untrue. Political theatre can be dripping with humour and shining with pizazz whilst still punching you in the face with a bold truth. LYSISTRATA proves that.

I hope you leave the theatre with eyes full of stars, a belly full of laughs and a bruise from a