Cosi

Good morning students and teachers. Today I am going to be talking about the play Cosi , written by an Australian playwright Louis Nowra, and explore two key themes that are very important in the understanding of the deeper meaning in this play. First of all a key theme in this play is madness/sanity, which is obviously evident in the text as it about a group of mentally ill patients and their contribution to Mozarts 'Cosi Fan Tutte'. We are introduced to the protagonist 'Lewis' who is a young inexperienced university student who is given the task of directing the play in a mental hospital. From auditions we are then introduced to the other characters or in other words patients. The patients make up a wide spectrum including Roy, a manic-depressive with a life passion for theatre and the oldest out of the group, Cherry, a Lewis-addicted romantic and compulsive liar with an explosive temper to all those around her, everyone except Lewis. Ruth, a middle aged woman who is obsessed with counting and distinguishing illusions and reality, Doug, a quick witted pyromaniac, Julie a pretty junkie who is very subtle, Henry , an older silent man who was previously married and was a lawyer and lastly Zac , a drugged up pianist. Through-out the text we are exposed to the real chaos and disorganisation of the group as they are working in a burnt down theatre and are usually thrown off by the idea of the play with problems with the patients in the group. Such as Doug who at the start nearly burned down the theatre again as he lit a fire in the bathrooms. Justin who is the social worker only sees the play as a distraction for the patients as he explains they would 'come right out of their shells'. In saying this you think to yourself that the patients for example Henry, would have the confidence to participate in the play despite his extreme shyness and mental instability, or on the other hand 'coming out of their shells' could also mean we see the ugly side of the patients referring back to the theme of madness and sanity. For example when Cherry's personality turned on Doug, she pulls out a flick knife and yells' If there is anything worse than the wrath of God, its the wrath of Cherry.' She then bolts outside heading straight for Doug. Because of all this is that Doug was transferred to a closed ward cut up resulting in a cancellation of the show until Lewis decides to play his part. Lewis at the start of the play was doubtful once he met all the patients and represented an 'outsiders' view on the mentally ill patients and looked at them to be stereotypically loony and crazy. Once he started to work and connect with the cast he realized that they have good qualities and mental illness is not their defining charactoristic. He also realizes that the insane people are more honest and speak their minds compared to the sane who do decieve and break each others trust. He realized this when he found out that his girlfriend is sleeping with his best friend. Which is ironic seeing as Cosi Fan Tutte is a play about fidelity and testing if a womens love is true. Conflict is another major theme that is shown throughout the text, and is a theme that consists of jealousy, personal views and intertwines with the concept of madness and sanity. There is constant violence and put downs throughout the play between the characters except Lewis who is the one usually resolving the problems that come between the cast and also being the only sane person out of the group. Cherry, an older , unattractive woman is very fond of Lewis, forcing him to eat when possible.'Go on eat.. your too skinny', Cherry enjoys doing this because she feels it is a way to get close to Lewis. She becomes very jealous of Julie, as Lewis and her kiss when the theater blacks out. Immediately after this Cherry slams a sandwich in Lewis' mouth which is a repeating motive of how she felt about him, but in a crazy strange way. Then quoting to Julie ' Kiss him again and ill break your fucking arm'. Because they suffer from a range of different mental illness' , some like Doug and Zac do not think about the concept of awkwardness as they just speak their mind. Doug is very provocative as he likes to cause trouble and create drama . This is shown when Lewis is talking to Lucy about their relationship and how he is going to shift out of the house. Doug enters and one of the first things he says to Lucy is 'Great Tits'. Lewis at that time was angry and explained house he felt about free love. Doug immediately starts talking about Lewis and Julie, which turns the tables as Lucy then becomes angry and leaves. The conflict and attitudes between the patients does get out of hand for example when Cherry attacks Doug with the flick knife but after each argument or feud they get over it as if nothing happened, which goes back to the notion on madness and sanity. In conclusion the themes conflict , madness and sanity are shown throughout the text as we responders are able to identify and feel the tension between the patients but also feel a sense of accomplishment towards them as the play did go forth and they all 'came out of their shells' in a good way. Thank you