Lysistrata (2006)
Senior School students last performed Lysistrata in the early '90s, and the decision to revive it was timely. As the directors pointed out in their programme notes, the difference between the Peloponnesian wars of Aristophanes' time and those of our own is merely one of scale. Human foolishness remains a constant. And so it was with great delight that capacity audiences watched some wonderful young performers tackle this first of comedies about ”the human comedy” and have a great time doing it. It is an anti-war play, the earliest dramatic example of what looks a bit like feminism, and a sex romp. Students need a measure of maturity to handle a play like this (few schools would touch it), and they delivered in spades. The quality of the acting and the direction enabled these themes to emerge in a balanced way, when the temptation might have been to give in to the obvious, and settle for Benny Hill type farce. The play's serious face was never hidden, just as the timeless elements of the comedy were allowed to flourish. The priapic boys, predictably, brought the house down; ”stiffy” jokes have an enduring appeal.
The production was well served by the casting. Isabella Thomas, new to the Company, brought dignity and elegance to the title role; she gave us a Lysistrata with the kind of wisdom and poise sorely needed in our own time. And to counter this was Chiara Hunter's more rowdy and roistering Calonice, another well-judged piece of acting. Myrrine again enabled Emily Bour to show us her intelligent reading of a role, while Laura Kayes impressed as Lampito, the Spartan with more than a hint of broad Kiwi. As the leaders of the old men's and women's choruses, Lewis Mitchell and Rosie Ball proved thoroughly entertaining sparring partners, and their body work in particular was especially convincing; they captured the humour and pathos of their roles by avoiding parody. Paddy Coleridge made the most of his stage time, extracting every last inch of humour from his moments of lewd sexual torment, while the always reliable Max Attwood made the most of a rather flamboyant and slightly befuddled magistrate.
The production was equally memorable for the work of the chorus. The decision to re-locate the play in our own time, and in Melbourne, worked a treat, and gave the chorus ample opportunities for comic inventiveness. The old men were reconceived as RSL veterans with shiny suits and medals to boot, while their antagonists were crusty but feisty women bowlers - both quintessentially Australian. It is not easy to persuade adolescent actors to wholly abandon their ordinary personas; the extraordinary strength of this contemporary rendition of an ancient Greek play was that the students entirely understood the changes to the text and entered fully into the spirit of the undertaking. The performances within the chorus, without exception, were disciplined, inventive, individualised, and thoroughly engaging. They had the audience in stitches whenever they were on stage, yet also delivered that occasional tautness in the throat. Their splendid work entirely validated the modernising of the setting.
The production team - Clare Cooper and Nick Evans (Directors), Tony Scanlon (Co-Director and Designer), Sabino Del Balso (Lighting and Sound) and Stephanie Des Barres (Costume Design) - have between them countless years of experience, and their theatrical know-how, disciplined direction, and artistic judgement were evident in every aspect of the performance. This was a tight and well-oiled production, which brought delight to audiences both young and old, and gave energy and freshness to a play of antiquity.