‘Lysistrata’ smothered with seriousness

They're calling it "Lysistrata," but anyone going to the Insurgo Theater Movement's production expecting Aristophanes' 411 B.C. comedy will weep with want.

Director/adapter John Beane has used the script as a starting point for an exploration on what he calls "the plight of the women through time, the power of sex/love, theatrical techniques from the avant-garde movement of the '20s and '30s that swept Eastern Europe, and more." Whew. That's a tall order for a production, and one that winds up suffocating this sometimes interesting drama.

The original Greek script has fun with a slight idea. What if women refused to have sex until their men put down their weapons of war? It's "I Love Lucy" set in ancient Athens. The play's kick is watching how these powerful men succumb to the "weak" women.

Translators and directors tend to make one of two very different kinds of mistakes with this material. They either dumb down the attitudes so that everything comes off dated, or they smother the themes in layers of seriousness that make this lighthearted tale seem like some sort of existential horror story.

Beane is guilty of the latter. He's updated the setting, given the action decadent fascist overtones, hardened the attitudes and physical appearance of the women so that they seem as unfeeling as the men, pumped up the violence, padded on texts to give the story epic proportions, and underscored the action with jazz, blues, rock and mini-production numbers built on the likes of "16 Tons" and "Walk on the Wild Side."

There's no point in trying to follow the action. There really isn't any. It's all come-on and mood. Even though it's fair game to use a play as merely a starting point for an adaptation, it's painfully clear that Aristophanes' simple, accessible, easy-to-understand situational comedy is not the right foundation for the "deep" work Beane seems to have in mind.

But Beane has a solid, visual sense and his work is never boring. He knows how to liven up a stage. He gets some first-rate performances from his 12-member cast, particularly Sean Critchfield in the role of a sometimes very confused general. And the three-member band (Matt Bennett, John Celentano and Robert Wingfield) gives the musical sequences needed dramatic power.

Insurgo is new to Vegas, and Beane is ripe with passion and ideas. I suspect intriguing things ahead.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.