Aristophanes' Lysistrata is a battle plan staged in bedrooms rather than on blood-soaked fields. To end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city-states, the sharp-tongued heroine corrals women into a sex strike as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace. What follows is a riot of stalemates, swollen egos, and negotiations derailed by bodily impatience. Far from a crude gag, the play weaponizes laughter to expose the absurdity of martial obsession and the fragility of male power when confronted with sustained collective action.
