Miss Los Istrata

A bilingual (Afrikaans & English) adaptation of Aristophanes’s Lysistrata (411 B.C.) by Robin Malan (1972).

The action is set at a contemporary Miss World competition where a “sex strike” for world peace and women’s liberation is led by one of the contenders, the representative of a small South American country.

The première production was staged by the University Theatre of Stellenbosch in the H.B. Thom Theatre in September 1972, directed by Robin Malan, with a cast of all the students in the Drama Department, including Tarina Kleyn (Miss Los Istrata), Johann van Heerden (agent 0011CIAMI5KGBSB), Dawie Malan (UK no. 1 & Marlene Dietrich), Tessa Cowan, Elsabe Kok, Sybil Coetzee, Awie de Swardt, Deon Bosman (Boris Itsykrotch Hahvitov), Ilse Treurnicht, Jannie Botes (USA no. 2), Lindy Smith (Miss UK), Chris Truter (USSR no. 3), Chris Visser, and others (all playing various roles). Music by Deon Bosman, choreography by Jacqui Singer, costumes by Elaine Aucamp and lighting by Emile Aucamp.