Aristophanes street 11

It may sound strange but in Greece the ancient satirical theatre is still alive and kicking a.... and also very very relevant to whats been happening lately:)

In a sizzling Athens and with a very heavy mood ,last night was like a plunge into a deep blue sparkling cool sea. My friend Stamatis Kraounakis,one of the most prolific and famous modern Greek composers , invited me to his show 

In an industrial part of the city he and his group of exceptionally talented "children" gave a performance based on "grandfather" Aristophanes plays.

Stamatis used the ancient theatre chorus, the group which in every tragedy or comedy commends with songs on the happenings,the protagonists and their actions. The chorus is the most important of the ancient theatre parts,it has the liberty to say anything and in Aristophanes satirical plays it may also swear heavily and use all the "four letter words" in the Greek language....

Stamatis has written the music score and the songs for a lot of Aristophanes comedies."Ploutos"-Wealth ,"Vatrahoi"-Frogs and of course the absolute all time favorite "Lysistrata"-The army breaker!

In this famous ancient (411 BC) comedy, the Athenian Lysistrata ,in the midst of a catastrophic civil war,gathers the women of Greece and makes them swear to abstain from any sexual activities till their husbands/lovers agree to sign a peace treaty!

The war of the sexes is on!!! And the fun begins! The women of Athens barricade themselves inside the Acropolis (where the money of the city was kept),men lay siege to win their sexual partners back.They can't stand it any longer...One of the fun parts of the ancient comedies was the fact that women's roles were-and still are most of the time-played by male actors. In this scene-don't watch if you have any "sensibilities"-one of the Athenian warriors (along with his giant phallus-comes crawling and begging his wife to come back home :)

Of course the women of Greece win !!And the war comes to an end!!

All in all, the ancient comic/satirical poet is giving us ,tired and dispirited Athenians, a good laugh and lots of energy to see another catastrophe to it's bitter end heads up!!!!

Thanks Stamatis for a wonderful night!!