Lysistrata

            I was surprised by how breezy of a read Lysistrata was, especially considering its age. I think this was due in large part to its modernized translation and to the fact that much of what makes it funny is not specific to any single time or culture. The gender politics that drive the central conflict of the story are the same today as they were at the time the play was originally written. The modernized translation did bother me to some extent, though. While it made things a lot clearer, I couldn’t help but wonder exactly what had been omitted. It seemed to be faithful to the original text, but having never read any other versions of this play, I have no sense of how close it was. This bothered me the most when innuendos came up, as I would have no idea whether the jokes had aged particularly well or if they had been reworded to appeal to a contemporary audience.