change through their experiences‚ as evident with a few characters in Louis Nowra’s play Cosi. The major character is‚ of course‚ Lewis Riley who is one of a few we observe who is very much different at the beginning than the end of the play as it can be said that he learns a great deal during the course of the play as the lessons he receives are of both personal and professional nature. Although the lessons Lewis learned are influential for the change of another through the course of the play‚ Henry
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Louis Nowra’s screenplay ‘Cosi’ explores the attitudes to and perception of the mentally ill in 1971. During this period Australia is at war and undergoing social reform. The perception of mental patients in the 70s can be seen as unethical and inhumane‚ with society grouping them with animals and locking them away in asylums with barbaric conditions. The 70s saw mental illness being neglected and kept in the dark and with movies that depict ‘mad’ people as animals; a negative connotation is placed
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seen by society as a negative form of difference and so mental illness patients have continuously been stereotyped and marginalised by society throughout there lives. The mistreatment of mental illness patients has been displayed throughout the play Cosi. The mental characters from the play create a theme of madness through there different personalities and quirks. The theme; mental illness and madness are developed for the audience by Louis Nowra’s choice of stage directions‚ dialogue‚ conflicts and
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TASK 4: THE AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE -ESSAY ON ‘COSI’ ‘’Drama allows us to examine our national identity through characters and conflict’’. Discuss this statement with reference to the play you have studied in class. The play ‘Cosi’ composed by Louis Nowra and set in Melbourne during the early 1970’s allows the audience to reflect on what it mean to be an Australian in the era and in modern times. Through the eyes of the protagonist‚ Lewis and his conflicting relationships with the mental
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How many points you have throughout your journey does not matter but the way in which you get to these points does. Lewis the main character is faced with a big shock when he gets to his new place of work‚ a mental institution that at start overcomes him. One of the themes shown in Cosi is insanity. While the patients were viewed as crazy people‚ Lewis soon discovers that they are in fact not and in many ways‚ are like everyone else. He soon realises that even though each patient has a mental flaw
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Nowra’s play is set in a ‘burnt out theatre’. Discuss the importance of setting and imagery in conveying Nowra’s idea on ’Cosi’. The setting and imagery used in Louis Nowra’s play ‘Cosi’ explore the turbulent time that took part in Australia. The play is set in a mental institution in Melbourne‚ in the 1970’s. Using the ominous presence of the Vietnam War‚ Nowra explores the insanity of the war; and the need to condemn war and to protest against Australia’s involvement in Vietnam. The main presence
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How has Louis Nowra Communicated Unique Ideas in his drama Cosi? Louis Nowra’s play‚ Cosi‚ is set in the 1970s‚ during the Vietnam War. The setting is in a mental institution. It was written in 1992. Cosi explores a range of ideas and attitudes towards mental illness‚ such as the stereotypical view that mental patients are dangerous and should be kept locked away. Another is that they are like a lot of other people who are considered “normal”. But the stereotypical view is generally the constant
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Cosi ‘Cosi is more than an entertaining comedy. It reveals the sadness of the lives of the characters.’ Discuss. Through the play Cosi the audience witnesses the lives of mentally ill people unfold before them. Louis Nowra has used black comedy within Cosi to allow the audience to abandon their pre-conceptions of ‘mad’ people and to see the characters not for their illness but for their personality. Because of this the audience is able to relate to each character and their situation and realise
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has changed you”. How does Nowra show change in Lewis through the play in Cosi? In the play‚ “Cosi” written by Lewis Nowra demonstrates his life through the character of Lewis Riley‚ who is the central character. The actions of Lewis and other characters are shown through the stage directions. His personality in the beginning is described to be a shy and an unsure University student who is still trying to figure out the society of the mid-sixties. Lewis started off only wanting to take the job at the
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How does Nowra portray the idea that ‘madness’ is a matter of perspective? Throughout the play ‘Cosi’‚ the audience witness the lives of mentally ill people unfold before them. Louis Nowra uses black comedy and a play-within-a-play structure to force the audience to see the characters as “normal people who have done extraordinary things” rather than just their mental illnesses. Ecplored though the actions of the government in the Vietnamese war that lead to strong anti-war attitudes and a seemingly
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