"The Birds"

Thursday, April 27-Saturday, April 29.7:30 p.m. Agassiz Theatre. Tickets available at the Harvard Box Office. $5.

“A little bit Buñuel, a little bit Chaplin, and a little bit Monty Python,” is the description offered by director Claire E. Catenaccio ’07 of The Harvard Classical Club’s upcoming production of Aristophanes’s “The Birds,” which premiered yesterday in the Agassiz Theatre. The comedy, which dates from the fifth century B.C., chronicles the misadventures of two idealistic Athenians, Pisthetairos and Euelpides, who have evacuated their war-torn city in order to establish a peaceful utopia beyond its walls.

Along the way they join forces with a flock of talking birds and build a “perfect” city in the clouds. Pisthetairos and Euelpides’ heavenly abode ultimately devolves into a dictatorship, and Pisthetairos commandeers sufficient power to depose Zeus as king of the gods.

Catenaccio calls the play’s plot a “bizarre mix of surreal elements,” but says that, “it’s nice to put on something so cheerfully unwholesome.”

In keeping with the tradition of unwholesomeness, Alexandra M. Helprin ’07, one of the play’s producers, explains that the Classical Club’s staging of “The Birds” will restore some of the Greek master’s trademark raunch: “Earlier translations of the play were censored. All of the dirty words were cut out and entire passages were missing. We’ve revived all of that.”

The Classical Club will be working with a fresh translation of Aristophanes’ comedy—one they created themselves. “We’re presenting an original translation of the play,” Catennacio explains. “Classics concentrators and affiliates helped translate the play from the original Greek.”

The translation isn’t the only thing new about The Classical Club’s production. Catenaccio says, “We also worked with a lyricist and choreographer to develop the bird chorus’ songs and dances, and we brought a composer on board to write us an original score.”

Catenaccio says that her staging of the play will strike a compromise between contemporary and Classical aesthetic preferences: “We’ve tired to keep the play funny, and we’ve added a few modern jokes, but a level of remove from the contemporary world preserves the work’s sense of fantasy.”

Helprin concurs that “we’ve kept the Greek flavor, but everyone speaks in modern English.

“The Birds” will run on Friday and Saturday evening, but Paul Franz ’07, another of the play’s producers, promises that “The Birds” will be more fun than barhopping. He says, “You’ll be spirited away on the wings of poetry, which is the finest drunk of all.”

Indeed, Harvard audiences would we well-advised to grab a toga and a libation before heading to the Ag. In Catanaccio’s words, “Everyone on stage will be drunk, so bring your own beer.”