Arts & Entertainment
Lysistrata Review
Laurie Diggett, Staff Writer
When I first heard
about the Meredith Ensemble
Theatre’s production of
Lysistrata, I was somewhat
confused. I was told it was a
Greek comedy, but that it had
been modernized to take place
In the Civil War. Upon hearing
this I wondered how that would
work could possibly work out,
thinking that the script would be
so severely modified to fit the
time they wished to convey that
the original aspects of a “Greek
comedy” would no longer be
apparent. I was abundantly
wrong about this assumption,
however.
Director Catherine
Rogers took the existing play
and added her unique touch
to fit the Civil War setting.
Instead of Athens, Greece,
the play was to take place in
Athens, Georgia and instead of
the typical garb of the Greeks,
characters were dressed In
mld-1800s Southern attire. To
my surprise, lines were not
changed as drastically as I
assumed they would have to be
for such an apparent change
In time and location within the
piece. Despite the fact that the
script did not undergo much
more than a more modern
English translation and a couple
of location changes, the play
worked; the original play mixed
with Rogers’s modernizations
worked superbly.
Every joke was spot on
and hilarious, the rhythm of
the play flowed smoothly even
though the poetic aspect of
certain lines were somewhat
out of place, and the set gave
the audience an intimate and
immersive environment for the
hour of entertainment.
While Lysistrata is
entertaining in itself, I would
like to give a small warning to
people who have never seen
nor heard of it. Lysistrata is no
“child’s play” (pun intended).
There aren’t just raunchy
jokes; the play is about women
withholding sex from their
husbands in order to stop the
war.
It not only deals with
Photo Credit; Meredith College
the issue of war from different
points of view, but it also
shows how women were never
expected to stand up for what
they believed in. Lysistrata is
a mature play and it does not
make sexual references for
mere humor, but allows those
statements to be made in order
to prove a point about women.
Women were expected to cook,
clean and serve their husbands
as they pleased in ancient
Greece.
The fact that the same
expectation held true during
the Civil War speaks volumes,
and it was a stroke of brilliance
from Rogers that it should
be modernized to show that
women had hardly made
progress for their rights in such
a large amount of time. Overall,
Lysistrata provides a comedic
factor within a storyline that
teaches a timeless lesson.
The Enchanted Arcana of Greg Carter
Lauren Cannon, Staff Writer
“The Enchanted
Arcana of Greg Carter,” a new
exhibition, has opened at the
Frankie G. Weems Gallery
located in the Gaddy-Hamrick
Art Center at Meredith. The
exhibition portrays the story
of the Tarot’s symbolic cards;
the illusionistic pieces full
of bright colors and prints
will bring you awe. Carter’s
display is full of intricate work,
ranging from unique statues to
digital output ink drawings. In
Greg Carter’s personal artist
statement, he remarked that
the exhibition is “a collection
of everything I have ever seen
and everything that fills in my
everyday experiences with the
unexpected and with meaning.”
Carter states that his inspiration
from the Tarot cards arose from
their ability to tell stories.
The Enchanted Arcana
exhibition will remain at
Meredith until Nov. 11 and the
hours for the gallery are as
follows: Monday-Friday from 9
am-5 pm, and weekends from
2pm-5pm.
Stop by the gallery and
be amazed I
Photo Credit: Lauren Cannon
Remakes! Updates! Spin-offs! Oh my!
Teressa Bertan, Staff Writer
It seems that every time
you turn around there is yet
another remake coming out
in theaters, a television series
spin-off of a more successful
franchise, or a fun ‘new’ twist
on a classic story. While it’s
easy to give into the saying that
Flollywood has run out of ideas,
this is no new phenomenon.
Remakes and updates
have been part of the film
industry for decades. Some of
the greatest classics that we
know of and love today are
remakes of early silent era
film. For example. The Ten
Commandments, the biblical
epic starring Charlton Hesston,
was a remake of the silent film
of the same name. Yet remakes
are more famously known for
being unsuccessful. Ben Flur,
also starring Charlton Hesston,
was recently remade as a
summer blockbuster.
This 2016 remake was
allocated 100 million dollars
in budget, but the film failed
to break even, making only
91.1 million at the box office.
Perhaps it is easy to write off
remakes because they are
so common - just within the
past few months we have
seen a Ghostbusters reboot,
a remake of The Magnificent
Seven, and a spin-off from the
Trolls franchise. While it can
be easy to disregard remakes,
updates, and spin-offs based
on their more famed failures,
often reboots make for films
with lasting impacts. Perhaps
audiences should take a
second look before passing
judgment on remakes, updates
and spin-offs.
Meredith Music & Arts
Events
Sinfonietta Chamber Music
Concert: Oct 30, Carswell Concert
Hall, 3pm.
The Enchanted Arcana of Greg
Carter: Oct. 17-Nov. 14, Gaddy-
Hamrick Art Center Weems Gallery,
9am - 5pm.
MET’s production of Suddenly
Last Summer by Tennessee
Williams: Nov 7-12, 7:30pm.
MET’s production of Suddenly
Last Summer by Tennessee
Williams: Nov 13, 3pm.
Digital Photography in Italy: A
Visual Journey: Oct 14-Nov 4,
Gaddy-Hamrick Art Center.