Lysistrata

Aristophanes, a native Athenian and the leading exponent of Greek comedy, was born circa 450 BCE. Today, forty-three of his plays are known by title, though only eleven survive. The most famous of these is the whimsical fantasy Lysistrata.

A perennial classroom and stage favourite as well as the basis of Spike Lee's Chi-Raq, the play is as relevant today as it was 2,500 years ago. The premise is simplicity itself: to end the Peloponnesian War, women decide to withhold sex from their husbands until the fighting stops.

The play is by turns raucous, bawdy, frantic, and funny. David Mulroy's exciting new translation retains the original's verse format, racy jokes, and vibrancy, setting it apart from previous efforts, which are typically reproduced as prose or depart from meaning and metre. His introduction offers a concise summary of Aristophanes' life and social milieu, including a brief overview of the Peloponnesian War, which took place during the playwright's lifetime. The appendices include guides on translating metre and Greek pronunciation for aspiring thespians.