Nearly 2,500 years ago, the Greek playwright Aristophanes envisioned women from opposing states bringing an end to war by withholding sex from their husbands until bloodshed stopped.
Today, people of both sexes around the world will read passages from “Lysistrata,” the comedy Aristophanes wrote on the subject, in a show of unity against the growing threat of a US-led war in Iraq.
The performances, collectively known as the Lysistrata Project, are scheduled to take place in 52 countries and all 50 US states. A total of 821 readings are planned worldwide.
Phnom Penh is presenting its own reading from Lysistrata tonight, together with about 15 other performances with a pro-peace theme. Organizers here, however, are keen to distance themselves from the specifically anti-war-in-Iraq stance taken by the projects’ founders.
The Lysistrata Project was conceived by New York actors Kathryn Blume and Sharron Bower, in response to their feelings of powerlessness in the face of the US’ movement toward conflict.
“Before we started the Lysistrata Project,” Blume wrote on their Internet Web site, “we could do nothing but watch in horror as the [administration of US President George W Bush] drove us toward a unilateral attack on Iraq.”
Blume and Bower say their drama project has, to some degree, changed that: “Many people have e-mailed us to say they now feel empowered to do something, and foster dialogue in their own communities about the dangers of this war,” Bower writes.
But in Phnom Penh, the project focuses not so much on “this war,” as on the concept of war in general.
“The performances are not specifically anti-war in Iraq, or anti-US or anti-British,” said Danny Whitehead, the coordinator of the Lysistrata Project here. “We are leaving people to draw their own conclusions; we’re not going to ram the message down people’s throats.”
This difference is reflected in how organizers plan to spend the funds their performances raise: Lysistrata Projects worldwide will give money to charities and organizations working toward peace in the Middle East, while any profits from the Phnom Penh performance will be donated to Friends/Mith Samlanh NGO, which is providing the venue for the show.
Aristophanes wrote Lysistrata sometime in the fourth or fifth centuries BC. At first glance, the tale of disenfranchised ancient Greek women devising an end to the lengthy, bloody Peloponnesian War may seem far removed from the wranglings of Bush and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. But organizers say the concept of people on a local level seizing power and changing the course of history has never been more relevant.
The director of the Lysistrata reading, Susan Nich, expanded on this connection: “I think the idea that the actions of ordinary people can make a difference to a larger issue is very relevant today,” she said.
In addition to the reading from Lysistrata, other Cambodian and expatriate participants will present dance, music, poetry readings and comedy acts. All will focus on peace, but vary widely in tone: “I wanted to juxtapose light-hearted pieces with very serious acts,” Whitehead said.
From New York to Phnom Penh and around the world, the project has gone from an idea to a real event in just three weeks. This has meant stressful days for Whitehead, who has put the show together on a tiny budget.
“We’re really cutting corners,” Whitehead said. “We’ve been begging, borrowing or stealing everything we need.”
Perhaps one of the most far-flung of the worldwide Lysistrata readings is set to take place in Battambang, where English teacher Sandy Winfield and her upper-intermediate class at the nonprofit Australian Center for Development plan to tackle a reading today in class.
“The students really like Lysistrata, they think it’s really funny,” Winfield said. “And they really like the idea of a worldwide war protest, too.”
The Lysistrata Project is at Friends/Mith Samlanh, No 215 Street 13, tonight beginning at 7. Admission is free; donations welcome.
