By Zeus, Sex Violence and, Action! A review of Aristophanes Three Comedies Translated by Gary Beck and Jane Oliensis.

 There is a mirthful brutality in the speech. Male and female, for the soul of Greece. Deigning to face authority, man woman or God(ess) all are subject to a thrashing. Whether it is to build a place in the sky for men to live as birds or to stop wars by withholding sex.

The true joy of these plays is to witness, walk among them and their bombast for them will not back down. Or the talk among the plotters and their audacious schemes. The more outrageous the better.

Upon the speech of Praxagora prepare to march around the theatre to face down war mongers bureaucrat and lawyers from a call to arms from the back row. To give up your worldly possessions for I am of an age that making love to an older woman or a younger woman it doesn’t matter who engage me first. Forgetting it is a book of plays/translations, Aristophanes Three Comedies is wicked fun and my suggestion is to partake in other works by Gary Beck at a theatre near you.

 

Godfrey Logan