Scene Breakdown

Based on the scene breakdown provided by our lovely Stage Manager, I have provided dramatic criticism, historical context, and production history. My hope is that the dramatic criticism will give the director and cast a sense of arc and progression. Historical context includes most of the glossary terms, but in a more cohesive format. The production history will work toward the actor's and designer's goal of achieving the most realistic "Greek Theatre Experience" possible.

	Pages	Action of Scene	Dramatic Criticism	Historical Context	Production History
1	16-20	Lysistrata (LYS) has called a meeting of all Grecian women affected by the Peloponnesian War. Kleonike (KLE) is the first to show, and she expresses how “wisdom from women” isn’t practical.	This is the introduction of the play. We meet our title character and she begins to tell her sidekick, KLE, her big plan. KLE doesn’t seem as confident	Propylaia is the gateway to the acropolis. LYS refers to Bacchus (Dionysus)  and  Pan (God of the woods). Both are associated with sexuality. Hellas is Greece. Boeotians were Thebans. KLE speaks of eels, a Greek delicacy. Women from the Shore, Salamis, Acharnai.	It is early morning in the Athenian Acropolis. KLE talks about feminine clothing: saffron wrappers, peekaboo peignoirs, exquisite negligees, slippers from the East.
2	20-30	Women from many regions of Greece arrive. LYS tells the women they can make their husbands end the war if they remain abstinent. At first, the women will not accept her plan. They do, and decide to seal the oath with wine.	LYS’s announcement of her plan is the catalyst for the action of the play. This unit sets up the plot to come. The hesitation before the women make the pact shows their lack of will power. LYS calls them sluts! They take the oath my slaughtering a bottle of wine, not an animal. Is this symbolic of how women approach common Athenian tradition?	Lampito (LAM) is given a hillbilly dialect, to demonstrate how the Athenians viewed Spartans as uncivilized bumpkins. KLE’s husband is working for Eukrates (brother of the notorious Nikias) in Thrace. Myrrhine’s is in Pylos, which is under control of Athens. The people of Pylos are revolting. LAM says there is no discharge in this war. The men are constantly in battle. In Miletus, you used to be able to buy dildos. Now they are revolting, just like Pylos. There isn’t government money to keep the war going. LYS wants to make the oath with a shield and entrails, as in Aeschylus’ plays.	Myrrhine (MYR) wears a girdle. A Skythian archer (Athenian police) carries a bow and circular shield.
3	30-36	All of the women hold onto the cup of wine and repeat the oath after LYS. They must make themselves beautiful and refuse contact with men. Then, they exit to help the other women bolt the doors to the Acropolis.	The seizure of the Acropolis symbolizes the women’s control of Athens. It is important to note that by doing this, they are also cutting off access to public money.	The women offstage are seizing the Athenian Acropolis, which (at this time) held funds in Athena’s temples. This means it was a symbol of politics and religion.	The women bring a huge black cup and tremendous wine jar for the oath.
4	36-40	A chorus of decrepit men enter, led by the Koryphaios. They are preparing to burn the women out of the Acropolis. They want their city back from LYS and her women.	The men want their city back from the strumpets, but they pray to Queen Athena (not a woman, but a goddess). Athena is the goddess of wisdom, courage, war and strategy. She resides over Athens and represents its pure democracy. These men need her guidance to win back their acropolis.	The Koryphaios was the leader of the chorus, which would have been about fifteen men. The women have apparently knocked over a statue of Athena Polias, which was a “Guardian of the City” in the Erechtheion (temple) inside the Acropolis. The Koryphaios mentions Lykon’s wife, who was notorious for being immoral. It is a joke, because he stutters and the audience thinks he will say Lysistrata. Kleomenes the Spartan occupied the Acropolis in 508 BCE. These men god rid of him in 2 days, so the women should be no problem.	They enter from stage left and make their way to the gates of the Acropolis center stage. Each man in the chorus of men staggers under a load of wood and holds a pot of fire and a dried vine wood torch. The pots of fire are constantly close to burning out. The dramatic illusion is commonly shattered, like when the Koryphaios points to Lykon’s wife in the audience.
5	40-45	The female chorus, led by Koryphaios, enters. The choruses see one another. The men want to start a fight because the female Koryphaios back talked. Both Koryphaioses bicker over their fire and water, until the women pour water over their torches.	Before approaching the men, the women also pray to Athena. They say they want her as their ally. When the Koryphaios of men wants someone to hit the other Koryphaios, no one volunteers. We then see the leaders of men and women engage in a witty argument. The verbal assaults and the petty fire/water seem so peaceful, compared to what is really happening across Greece.	Aristophanes was the only Greek playwright to use male and female choruses. The male Koryphaios quotes Euripides, who began writing plays in 438 BCE. He would have just written Helen.	The chorus of women enter from stage right, wearing cloaks and carrying pitchers of water. After the women pour water on them, the men are all soaking wet.
6	45-48	The Commissioner of Public Safety (CPS) enters with four Skythian Archers. CPS compares this situation to Demostratos, who listened to his wife and created moral chaos. He explains that female action is a result of what men have taught them. He has come to get money from the treasury inside the Acropolis, to buy oars for the Athenian fleet. He begins to pry open the gates.	This is the first scene that involves a figure of authority. Instead taking control immediately and offering a sense of order, he rambles about moral chaos from long ago. Also, it doesn’t seem like he is worried about the men or women. He just needs money for the fleet.	A Proboulos, or CPS, was an Athenian official who served as a legislative check. This position was created in 413 BCE after the Sicilian Catastrophe. These men were qualified by old age; over forty. Demostratos was a demagogue, or a leader who espoused the cause of the common people.	The CPS and police enter stage left. The Koryphaios of men complained to the CPS that their cloaks are sopping. The CPS grabs a crowbar to pry open the gates.
7	48-51	LYS opens the gates. Upon CPS’s command, each of the four archers approach each of the women. The women swear by Artemis and threaten the archers with their objects. LYS’s army emerges from the Acropolis and the archers run away.	The archers have four chances to conquer each of the women, but they are scared away every time. This is not because they are afraid of being defeated. They do not know how to handle such a bold woman! Especially when she brandishes a domestic tool.	The women call Artemis goddess of the hunt,  the dew, bringer of light, and Tauris (goat). The women are finally standing up to the men, and quite violently. They call upon Artemis to give them strength. She is the goddess that can provide the vigor of the hunt and the tenacity of a goat.	LYS appears with a large spindle. KLE carries a large chamber pot. MYR carries a large, blazing lamp. Ismenia carries a huge pair of pincers. The women are all armed with common household objects. The archers exit left, from whence they came.
8	51-58	Both choruses are back, and the men think the CPS is siding with the women. LYS explains that they are withholding the Acropolis to end the war and solve Athens’ political problems. LYS attempts to convince the CPS that they will save Athens. LYS explains the objective of her and her women, who then proceed to dress the CPS as a woman.	The CPS becomes the first to request an explanation for LYS’s actions. She tells him how the women were before this day; submissive and quiet. She kept her advice to herself while her husband ruined the city! She gives a speech about how it is the men’s turn to remain silent, and they dress him as a woman (the inferior). LYS gives a Homer quote often spoken by her husband, and changes it to fit women. This and the veil represent the change that is happening.	At this time, only men were considered citizens. However, LYS speaks of the Power of Women and the female Koryphaios calls herself a neighbor and the men low-lifes. This must have been quite amusing to the citizens attending the original performance. LYS mentions the Friends of Oligarchy, or Synomosiai. These were political groups who would hold caucuses and sway votes. The women are out to end these in a quest toward political equilibrium.	When the KOM tries to hit the KOW, she swings her pitcher at him. When the CPS threatens to hit LYS, KLE holds up her chamber pot once again. LYS takes her veil off and puts it over the CPS, forcing him to take the inferior role and listen to her. Other women give him with a comb and wool basket, to amplify this effect. The women put down their pitchers to dance.
9	58-63	The chorus of women sing the praises of LYS’s women. The CPS asks how they plan to set Greece right. LYS explains though a yarn metaphor. She speaks of the respect aging men receive, while aged women are left alone. The women, then, attack the CPS with their household objects. He exits.	In this scene, the women blatantly contradict themselves. LYS has this wonderful monologue about working out the kinks, piece by piece, to create a peace throughout Greece. Then, she and her comrades brutally attack the Commissioner of Public Safety! It’s as if one minute they are perfectly democratic, and the next all anarchy breaks loose. The stakes are raised and the action becomes more important than the text.	The KOW calls to the autochthonous women, meaning those indigenous to Attica. In the script, the translation “pacifier” is used, but the original Greek was Lysimachas, or “battle-settler.” This is directly related to LYS’s name. KLE praises Aphrodite, goddess of love. LYS says the soldiers are like crazy Korybants, which were dancers who moved to drum beats. LYS explains that as this time, men could be old and find a woman. Women have only a short time to find a man, until they’re considered too old. LYS tells the CPS that Charon (ferryman to Hell) is waiting on him.	The female chorus dances to the same tune as the chorus of men. The CPS tells the men in the audience to stand. LYS still has her spindle, and she winds the yarn around the CPS. KLE empties her chamber pot over him and MYR breaks her lamp over his head. The CPS exits left, which is where he entered originally. LYS and her women go back inside the Acropolis.
10	63-69	The chorus of men think the Spartans are behind this capture of the Acropolis, and all they want is Athens’s money. The KOM angrily rants that the women have no idea what they are getting into. He hits to KOW, but she responds with having her women undress. She points out that the women have stock in Athens by bearing sons. What stock have the men? The men take off their clothes and postulate that the women will join the effort on ships and horses.a	This scene has a lot of historical references, and it becomes obvious that this conflict (while between men and women) is not about sex. It is strictly about Athenian political tradition. The old men are set in their ways, and the women do not even want to join their governmental structure. They want to work out the current war and let the men get back to work.	Kleisthenes is mentioned again. The KOM wants to be in Kritios’s Statuary Row (sculptures of heroes). He wants to be next to Harmodios and Aristogeiton, a homosexual couple that represented democracy. The KOW tells the men they have nothing left of their wills from the Persian War. This was a large sum of money from Athens’s allies during the Persian War, but it was wasted away in Sicily. The Sicilian Expedition was a disaster for Athens’s forces, and it’s mentioned throughout the play. The chorus of men allude to a century ago. Aristophanes wanted an OLD chorus so they would approach this revolt as political, not sexual. So even though men did not live to be 120 years old, that is how old these men should appear. Artemisia fought Athens at Salamis in 480 BCE as part of the Persian War. The Stoa is a great hall in Athens, where Mikon had painted a mural of the Amazons attacking Athens on horseback. The KOW had a party to honor Hekate, goddess of magic. The men had passed laws that prohibited Boiotians from casually entering Athens.	The KOM tells the audience, or Athens, to wake up. The chorus of men take off long mantles (capes) to reveal short tunics. The KOM mentions a knife under his cloak, a gauntlet (armored glove), and a sword behind an olive branch. The women take off mantles to reveal tunics, matching the chorus of men. The KOW takes off a show and hits the KOM with it. The men end up taking off the tunics, to bear their naked bodies. The KOM tries to get his hands around the KOW’s neck, but she chases him back to his men. The women also remove their tunics. The KOW grabs the KOM’s ankle and trips him. The men exit.
11	69-74	LYS tells the KOW that her women want to get laid. One by one, they enter from the citadel and tell LYS fake excuses to leave. LYS reads a prophecy that says the women must stay strong (bird metaphor). The women go back inside the Acropolis.	This is almost the breaking point for the women in the Acropolis. They are all trying to sneak out to their husbands. This shows a weakness and lack of tenacity. However, they get strength from the prophecy.	LYS caught a woman sneaking out to Pan’s Grotto, which was a cave that connected the inside of the Acropolis to the outside. It contained a shrine to Pan. LYS has a prophecy scroll, which she would have received from an oracle. The scroll alludes to Zeus throwing a storm upon the women. Zeus was the ruler of the world, armed with thunder and lightning.	LYS talks about last night and yesterday as if they had been in the Acropolis for multiple days, but there hasn’t been any mention of sunset or sunrise. The “third woman” makes herself pregnant with a bronze helmet from a statue in the Acropolis. LYS pulls out a prophecy scroll and reads it.
12	74-77	The choruses are back. The men tell stories of misogyny and the women hate the men right back.	This segment does not move along the story. It seems to be an interlude, to prepare the characters for the action to come.	The old man refers to Myronides (Athenian general 40 years back) and Phormion (Athenian admiral, more recent) as masculine forces.	When an old man falls over, he has an “overgrown underbrush.” When the old woman falls, it is “neat.”
13	77-91	LYS sees a man coming, MYR recognizes him as her husband, Kinesias (KIN). LYS tells her to seduce him but not have sex. KIN enters with a slave carrying a baby. LYS brings MYR out, but she ignores KIN at first. She comes down to see her baby. KIN agrees to peace if MYR will have sex. To prolong his suffering she keeps exiting to get more necessaries, like a cot. KIN complains to the KOM.	This is the first husband we meet. He appears to represent all the husbands; a giant erection. This scene is a metaphor for Greece’s current situation; KIN experiences immense pain waiting for MYR to run around and accomplish nothing. The roles have switched, and yet nothing has truly changed.	LYS calls the unknown man Demeter the Fruitful, meaning he has an erection. Demeter is the Earth-Mother and goddess of harvest. KIN has a male slave to do his bidding. This was common for the citizens of Athens. KIN calls out for a Pandar, which was a pimp.	LYS mounts a platform to see KIN far off to the left. There has been no mention of a platform thus far. KIN enters with a giant erection and his male slave carries a baby boy. KIN tells MYR that the baby hasn’t been washed for a week and the house has gone to hell. The slave takes the baby away. MYR brings on a cot, mattress, pillow, blanket, and two bottles of perfume.
14	91-93	A herald from Sparta comes, looking for the CPS. They both have erections. The  herald explains that the women will not touch the men until there is peace. They both decide to persuade their Senates to conclude an armistice.	Only after the herald explains what’s happening does the CPS fully understand. It takes the pain of another man (a Spartan, at that) for him to grasp the situation and take action.	The herald and CPS try to blame their erections on epistles, which were leather-bound rods that delivered messages. Only a qualified receiver could decipher these messages.	Both the herald and the CPS have long cloaks concealing their erections. They throw open their cloaks to reveal phalluses. A recent production at University of Alaska Fairbanks made giant penises out of fabric, and had the actors pull a clear string to raise it to an erect state. In the original production, the men would have worn “erect” leather phalluses.
15	94-98	The choruses are back, and still hating one another. The women dress the men back in their tunics because they want to be friends. The KOW gets a bug out of the KOM’s eye and kisses him. The two choruses make a truce to end all mischief.	After the truce, we see the action of the play shift toward a conclusion. Through both choruses songs, we see diversity within unity. The men talk about  money and the women talk about food. Different subject matter, but similar format.	The KOM quotes a proverb, Life with women is hell. Life without women is hell, too. This seems like the beginnings of “Women. Can’t live with them. Can’t live without them.”	The chorus of women dress the chorus of men in the tunics they had on earlier.
16	98-100	Delegations of Spartans and Athenians all meet with erections. The KOM regulates the discussion. They all want peace. They call for LYS.	The word erection isn’t ever said. The KOM speaks of everything in metaphors and riddles. KIN says there will be no peace without LYS. This is not because she holds power over the men, but she does hold power of the women. These women obviously have an effect on their husbands.	KIN called the Athenian delegation the Sexual Congress, with their erections as their “credentials.” There was no such thing. KIN says that if they are away from their women much longer they will fall back on Kleisthenes. Kleisthenes was a notorious homosexual in many of Aristophanes plays. However, in reality, many of these men could have had sex with prostitutes or their slave boys. The KOM seriously tells the men to cover themselves or they’ll be censored like the naked Hermes statues by the Purity League just a few years prior.	All of the men have their cloaks off and they are holding them in front of their erections. They push the cloaks to the side to reveal their state.
17	100-106	LYS comes out of the gates of the Acropolis with a naked woman called Peace. LYS gets Peace to bring all the men close to her. She gives a long speech about peace, but the men can’t listen. They can only stare at Peace. They use her body as a map to negotiate land agreements. LYS regulates these spoken treaties. She tells the men to go to purification and come back for a banquet and oaths. They all go get ready.	Peace has entered the stage, but actual peace has yet to come. It’s interesting that LYS speaks of real peace but the men can only look at the woman. What do the men really want? What was LYS’s motivation to put Peace onstage with her? To get their attention. The use of Peace’s body as a map is not only a physical symbol of the peace agreement to come, but also of the sexual desire driving the agreement. This scene serves as the play’s climax.	LYS reminds both the Spartans and Athenians of the times they saved one another. Fifty years ago Sparta needed Athens to help with the Messenian Revolt. They allude to Poseidon, the Earth shaker, god of the sea. General Kimon led Athenian troops to save Sparta. And for the Spartans, LYS tells them to recall the Tyrant’s days. Hippias was a tyrant in Athens until Kleomenes  brought his Spartan army to expel him 100 years ago.	Peace is completely naked. The men throw their cloaks off when they can’t handle looking at Peace anymore.
18	106-110	The choruses give speeches similar to those of scene 15. A drunk CPS comes from inside the Acropolis and threatens the chorus of men mockingly. KIN, also drunk, says the feast went wonderfully. The CPS says they should always be drunk, because they are more relaxed and less violent.	There has obviously been an agreement. The drunken, jovial Athenians let us know that things are wonderful now. However, we have yet to see LYS or hear what she says about the peace.	The drunk CPS sings a Skolion about Kleitagora. Skolia were songs sung by invited guests at a banquet. Part of this song is about Ajax, a hero in Homer’s Iliad and many epic poems about the Trojan War.	The KOM bangs on the gates to the Acropolis. The CPS comes through the door wearing a wreath and holding a torch. KIN wears a wreath as well.
19	110-113	A flutist plays and the Spartans sing and dance. LYS tells the husbands and wives to pair up and go home. The  (combined!) Chorus and Spartans continue to sing and dance and praise Athena.	Before the big singing and dancing ends the play, LYS suggests that they not make the same mistakes. This serves as the moment of realization. This is to say that while things will stay the same (patriarchy), everyone should’ve learned something about peace and order.	The singing Spartans sing about joyous dancing, and compare themselves to Maenads. Maenads were frenzied female followers of Dionysus.	A flutist enters and plays his flute.