Lyric announces Lysistrata a modern retelling of Aristophanes’s seminal comedy

The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre has announced the cast and creative team for its first autumn show Lysistrata.

The cast features all 10 trainees of this year’s Springboard, a free two-year training programme providing theatre-based training and development opportunities to nurture the next generation of performers from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds and groups underrepresented in theatre.

Springboard is kindly supported by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and The Emmanuel Kaye Foundation who have helped to launch the programme through funding over the next three years for the first 30 trainees.

Commissioned by the Lyric, Lysistrata is a modern retelling of Aristophanes’s seminal comedy.

The witty, sharp, and highly topical comedy follows the story of the title character Lysistrata, a medical student who decides to withhold her medical expertise at a sit-in protest at a STI clinic as a result of the NHS being consistently underfunded and the Government’s further cuts to vital medical bursaries.

This inaugural Springboard production runs in the Studio at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre from September 8-10.

Director Diyan Zora said: “Sophie Ellerby’s new version of Lysistrata is such an exciting and fresh take on this infamous comedy.

“Our setting is a modern day STI clinic, where a young doctor leads a medical student strike for the NHS. The play zones in on one of the most pressing political issues of our time, while keeping the raucous humour and wit that makes the original so extraordinary.

“I am thrilled to be working with this daring and talented group of Springboard trainees. Their energy and talent is off the charts, and through a year of bespoke training with the Lyric, they have become a proper ensemble.”

Picture: Diyan Zora – Picture: Chloe Bowman/Dani Vazquez