Lysistrata

★★★☆☆ 3/5

Ruden's translation gives us a play whose main characters are all women written by a man and now mediated through a female translator. I like the idea that this adds another layer to the text: I am sure as a classicist Ruden stayed very faithful to Aristophanes but I wonder to what extent if any her experience and perspective as a woman colors her rendition.<br/>As I said, Ruden is a classicist. She translated the Lysistrata into iambic pentameter (thus reminding the reader that the original play was written in verse) and at the same time she works hard to recreate the double entendres and bawdy, lewd language used by Aristophanes. The traditional poetic form together with lines like "There's nothing like a dick" and "yield a lousy lay" might seem an odd combination, but when you think about it they're both about loyally reproducing the text.<br/>I think Ruden wrote this version to be read by students and literary enthusiasts rather than spoken aloud by actors. It could work as a stage script, but I wonder if there aren't perhaps other translations more geared towards theatrical production.

3/1/2026