“Make love, not war!”

Lysistrata, frustrated at the ongoing violence of the civil war, convinces the women of Athens to deny their husbands sex, until a treaty for peace has been signed. Aristophanes is astonishingly ahead of his time in this, probably his greatest and most enduring comedy.

Following the huge success of Tartuffe, Arcola Theatre presents Ranjit Bolt’s musical adaptation of the anti-war comedy Lysistrata; directed by Sarah Esdaile (Taming of the Shrew, RSC; Coyote on a Fence, Royal Exchange/Duchess Theatre West End; Compact Failure, Arcola Theatre). Originally commissioned by Sir Peter Hall in 1993, this adaptation premiered in Liverpool and then at London’s Old Vic, before bringing steamy sex-strike comedy to the Dalston festive season.

Arcola Theatre is once again proud to be nominated for the Empty Space Peter Brook Awards, alongside The Gate and Drum Theatre, Plymouth in the Studio Theatre category. This is a great end to a year where Arcola has staged such highly acclaimed productions as the Oxford Stage Company’s Last Waltz season, Out of Joint’s promenade Macbeth and Arcola Theatre’s own production of Carver, the first professional play directed by Bill Gaskill in ten years.

There will be pre-show discussions with cast and creative team on Monday 19 December and Thursday 12 January.

There will be a Sign Languare Interpreted performance in early January (date TBC), please contact us for further details

See what the critics thought!
British Theatre Guide
What’s On Stage

 

Translated and Adapted by Ranjit Bolt

Writer Ranjit Bolt collaborated with Arcola Theatre on a very successful new adaptation of Tartuffe last Christmas. Manchester born, he is the nephew of playwright and screenwriter Robert Bolt. He was educated in Perse, Cambridge, and Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied the classics. His first translation was of Corneille’s The Liar, staged by the Old Vic. Other productions of Mr. Bolt’s translations and adaptations include; The Illusion by Corneille, staged by the Old Vic in 1990 ; Don Juan’s Tenorio, Oxford Stage Company, 1990-91; Molière’s Tartuffe, staged by Sir Peter Hall, 1991-92; Brecht’s Arturo Ui, Royal National Theatre, 1991; Goldoni’s The Venetian Twins, Royal Shakespeare Company, 1993-94; Sophocles’ The Oedipus Plays, Royal National Theatre, 1996; Molière’s The Misanthrope, staged by Sir Peter Hall, 1998 , Tartuffe, staged by the Royal National Theatre, 2002, and Goldoni’s Mirandolina, staged at Chicago’s Noble Fool Theatre in 2002.

On December 31, 2002, as part of the Queen’s New Year’s Honours, Ranjit Bolt was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his “services to literature” as a translator.

This is an Arcola Theatre Production