Cosi Louis Nowra Analysis

Cosi by Louis Nowra is a play within a play, Meta Theatre, and is a semi-autobiographical, touching and a biting portrayal of human relationships and mental illness. Prior to the 1970s, people who suffered from ‘mental disorders’ were sent to mental institutes in order to prevent them from bringing shame onto their families and the community. The ‘illnesses’ ranged from true mental instability, such as OCD and schizophrenia, to alcoholics and drug abusers. This is what Nowra’s play is based around.

Cosi Fan Tutte, first performed in 1790, is a play that conveys the theme of love and fidelity. The play revolves around the plot of two men, Guglielmo and Ferrando, who decide to test the fidelity of their partners, Dorabella and Fiordiligi, by 'going to war' but secretly come back dressed up as soldiers returning from war and try to seduce the women. Their plan was successful, but
the twist is that Guglielmo's girlfriend fell for Ferrando and vice versa.
In the end all was set right and Ferrando was back together with his partner and so was Guglielmo.

This extract from Louis Nowra's play Cosi highlights an important turning point in the play. This extract shows the main themes of love and fidelity, the treatment of mental patients shown through the character development of Lewis. Nowra shows these themes through the use of dramatic techniques throughout the play such as a beat, stage directions and dialogue.

The turning point highlights a change in the character Lewis's view on mental illness. In the beginning Lewis was very much on the same page as his friends Lucy and Nick, in that they saw mentally ill people as outcasts. This is shown by the way Nick says "they are coming to take me away ha ha, to the funny farm"(p41)
whenever he visits Lewis to 'help'. We see some change from this point of view early on in the play when Lewis sides with the patients when Doug sets the bathroom on fire. Also by the second act we see a big change in Lewis’s attitude to the play and the patients. This is shown when he starts including himself as part of the cast, repetition of the word we e.g. “we are running out of time” ”we open soon”. Also when Lucy presents him with an ultimatum (p 69) and he chooses to rehearse Cosi instead of support Nick in his play, Galileo, and with the moratorium meeting. At the end of this page there is a silence while Lewis deliberates his decision. This is used to make the audience sit on the edge of their seats with anticipation to find out what Lewis’s decision is. Lewis then says one word, ‘Mozart’ which again emphasises his change in attitude towards the patients/cast. There is also a sense that Lewis has gotten stronger and is now able to stand up for himself. ‘I’m not going to let them down’ the way that despite Lucy’s view Lewis is finally able to say things that he thinks is true, such as ‘It’s about important things – like love and fidelity’. By the end of the play Lewis is able to let them experience something fulfilling and satisfying as a cast, not just as therapy. He is able to accept all the patients/cast’s foibles and accommodates them, for example, Roy and his stage fright also Henry with the soldiers’ costumes.

This play by Nowra is very similar to the actual play in the way it explores the theme of love and fidelity. During this excerpt from the play we see that Lucy, Lewis’s girlfriend, has to ask an ultimatum of Lewis, ‘Lucy: make a decision Lewis. Lewis: decision? Lucy: between going to the moratorium meeting or staying here’ (p69). It is clear that this question wasn’t thought of in this set moment, but has been built up throughout the play right back to when Lewis stuck up for the patients when Doug set fire to the bathrooms, from this point on we see a change in Lewis’s confidence in himself and the view he holds; such as: ‘It’s about important things – like love and fidelity’ and ‘without love, the world wouldn’t mean much’. In the beginning of the play Lewis was a shadow of his friends who, at the time, had a stronger personality than he did. This is seen by his lone ‘love doesn’t mean much nowadays’ (p 10). It seems that Lewis is allowing Lucy and Nick to shape the way he thinks about things. We see a change when Lucy asks Lewis to make a choice and instead of staying with his friends, who are having an affair, he decides to stay and rehearse Cosi with the patients. The main change in Lewis is when he finds out that Lucy is ‘sleeping with you and having sex with Nick’, it is clear that Lewis is shocked at this affair as at the bottom of page 70 it says [Lewis is stunned], he also quotes the play Cosi Fan Tutte with a saying about how women’s fidelity is like an Arabian Phoenix, everyone swears it exists but no one has ever seen it. By the end of the play Lewis has a much deeper understanding of the different kinds of love that can make a meaningful connection between people.
Some of the main techniques used in this play include [a beat] to allow the audience to take in what they have just heard. The main one which is shown in this excerpt is silence as Lewis prepares his answer to Lucy’s ultimatum, choosing between her and Nick or the ’outcasts’.
Overall this play emphasises that reality is unique for each person, and that many people slip into illusions to avoid the truth. It is suggested in the play that although the patients may not have been completely ‘normal’ they still possess great insight that ‘normal’ people may overlook. Cosi reminds the reader of the incongruity of mental asylums which are shunned by society.