Welcome Greeks bearing comedy

The Bangkok Community Theatre seeks peace in Germaine Greer's hilarious retelling of 'Lysistrata'

The Bangkok Community Theatre, our oldest producer of English-language plays, will close out the 2010 season with an adaptation of the Greek comedy "Lysistrata", in which the women of two nations at war form a pact: no sex unless their men stop fighting.
"I've wanted to stage this play since I read it in school," says British director Severin Herbert. "And I found this translation by Germaine Greer, who was part of the first wave of feminism in the 1960s, and it's really funny."
Phil Willmott added dialogue to the rewritten Old World classic, but the reviewer at the London-based Independent still focused on Greer's "ball-grabbing translation" in this "bubbling bag of Ancient Greek delights".
The Guardian called it "wonderfully fragrant".
Herbert points out that the plot and characters are unchanged from Aristophanes' original of the fifth century BC, but Greer modernised the script to delightful effect.
"She set it in a bathhouse, and the Greek chorus is now the four cleaning women, and the male politicians are made a little more modern in their language, which is more prose.
"She followed the same structure: You have the comedy, but you also have the central argument between the two main characters, which brings out the discussion about war and peace, as well as the battle of the sexes."
War and peace factored into the Bangkok production amid Bangkok's Red Spring.
"We were going to do it in May and rehearsed through March and April, but some rehearsals were skipped because actors couldn't get into town," Herbert says.
"We decided not to put it on because we didn't think it's right to stage a comedy about war that involves jokes about death when people were actually dying nearby. It would have been culturally insensitive.
"The whole cast agreed and we postponed it to November, and we hope nothing else happens."
Between the recent floods and upcoming festive season, it's politically unlikely there'll be any further delay, so "Lysistrata: The Sex Strike" can proceed to entertain us at the British Club.
"We're using a thrust stage, so the audience will be on three sides," Herbert notes. "This fits the play very well - it's similar to the ancient Greek playhouse, where the viewers felt they were involved in the debate.
"There's no audience participation as such, but we want them to feel they're not cut off from the ideas being debated in the play."
Herbert's cast comprises both Bangkok Community Theatre veterans and newcomers. "It's a mix of people who want to enjoy themselves on the stage, and that's what's really comes out in the play.
"They're also very interested and knowledgeable in theatre, so there have been some debates about how scenes should be played. It's very interesting that everyone has their say in what they're doing - otherwise my job would be just telling people where to stand!"

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No sex unless â?¦

If you already have a ticket, you'll be seeing the sold-out "Lysistrata: The Sex Strike" at the British Club on Silom Soi 18 next Thursday to Saturday (November 25 to 27).
If you don't have a ticket, have Bt500 ready, call (089) 524 6105 or e-mail lysistrata.bct@gmail.com and beg to join the waiting list in case of any cancellations.
Find out more at www.BCT-Th.org