Odyssey Theatre’s Lysistrata and the Temple of Gaia — The Slaves Called It.
In Odyssey Theatre’s Lysistrata and The Temple of Gaia, the audience is brought forward in time as tourists to a not too distant future where humankind has continued on its path of self-absorbed entitlement and waste to have basically ruined the planet. The rich live with their slaves in enclaves, somewhat protected from the incredibly volatile weather, willfully ignoring everything that might cause them upset.
Lysistrata (Lizzie) is barren and has concocted a plan to call upon the ancient Greek goddess Gaia to help get her knocked up. In the meanwhile, her husband has embarked on a quest to make him undisputed tyrant (his word) of Greece, where the play is set. They’re at odds immediately and their conflict is escalated to the nth after the Gaia summoning is successful and Gaia lays out an ultimatum for Lysistrata with the fate of all humankind at stake.
Sitting in the late show of Movin’ Melvin Brown’s A Man, A Magic, A Music, I glanced off and saw his silhouette projected against the side wall. Ten-feet tall. Larger than life. I knew that that was how I had to start this review because that’s the best way to describe him. Movin’ Melvin Brown has such a strong personality, he’s exploding with it in every word he says or sings, every tap he dances, every laugh he laughs.
Luna is…
Do You Want To Live Forever? is a story told primarily through dance with a side of poetry added for good measure. It is the story of a man who has learned to live forever and is seeking a worthy partner. Or it is the story of a woman stuck in the doldrums of life with the weight of impending death weighing her down. Their stories overlap in a relationship spanning centuries that eventually sees her reconsidering her place in it all. Neither character is named in the text so I’ll be calling them He and She.
