The costumes for the men in the play were modern and a mixture of formal and military, which represented high status men in charge of countries and possibly deciding to wage wars, while the women mainly wore sexy costumes that were intended to hint at the pleasures no one is being treated to. An example would be the scene where one of the women in sexy and barely any clothing arouses one of the men into desperation, he was wearing a military uniform and began taking it off the more he got aroused, eventually showing a strap on penis.
The set consisted of three platforms, with the third and highest one being inaccessible to men. There were also poles, stairs and pillars with black and yellow tape wrapped around them. They were used throughout the play starting from when the women set up a barricade and surrounded it with the tape to keep the men away.
The were brief moments where sound was used that matched the character. For example, jazzy music was played whenever the old men went on, to show a stereotypical cartoonish and frustrated old man, and heroic drum music played whenever the Spartan woman went on, to show her humorous masculinity and highlight the stereotypical ‘tomboyish ‘ Spartan woman that is often portrayed in the media and plays. There was also a modern plane sound used at the beginning of the play to suggest the modern theme of the play as well as the Libyan war.
The lighting that was used in the play was mainly yellow, which contrasted the theme of the performance as they used a lot of yellow in it. They often used several spotlights, as well as a sidelight when the two leaders met, the reason for this is because it represented the two big sides in Ancient Greece, which was Athens and Sparta, who often had war. The spotlights highlight the superiority and importance of the leaders.
Overall, I didn’t really like the play. Maybe it’s just me but I found it too stereotypical and predictable, as though it felt like the performers were asking the audience to laugh and you could predict what happens next. The strap-on penises was quite original but other than that it’s really just another ordinary play. I would have liked it if they made the humour more random and surprising, as well as having more original characters.
