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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ENGLISH FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TASK YEAR 11 – STANDARD Jenai Lawrance 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
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Louis Nowra’s play ‘Cosi’‚ demonstrates the bias of madness and deals with the subject of love and fidelity through the development of the protagonist‚ Lewis. Set in the era of free love and war the 1970’s‚ the use of dramatic techniques creates chaos and conflict as Lewis’s opinions of love and madness is challenged by his interactions with the patients from an asylum and through the production of a play-within-a-play “Cosi Fan Tutte”. Nowra begins ‘Cosi’ by commenting on the way society treats
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various left wing student political slogans in these early scenes. His preconceived trendy left ideas about doing a Brecht play about how ‘a man sacrifices himself for the good of his mates’ are quickly dismissed by Roy‚ who bullies Lewis into directing Cosi Fan Tutte and ignores his couations about the appropriateness of the light oopera in the time of theVietnam War and a world where love is no longer ‘important’. In the initial rehearsals‚ Lewis’ uncertainty and inexperience cause tension ‘.......
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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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Cosi Act one Scene one: Plot: Lewis along with his girlfriend‚ Lucy‚ and his friend‚ Nick‚ enter “a burnt out theatre.” As they struggle to find a light switch they joined by Roy. Lucy leaves and Nick who is frightened joins her. Lewis meets Justin the social worker and then the other members appear. Doug‚ a pyromaniac‚ Henry‚ who says nothing and Zac‚ a musician. The women join them soon after‚ Cherry‚ who is violent‚ Julie‚ a drug addict and Ruth‚ who suffers obsessive compulsive disorder
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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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“Working with these people 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
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Cosi is a semi-autobiographical play. The Lewis that audiences encounter at the end of Louis Nowra’s play Cosi is very different from the Lewis in Act One. Within the context of Australian society undergoing radical social and political changes in the 1970′s‚ Nowra also charts the radical changes in his protagonist‚ Lewis. Faced with the daunting job of directing mental patients in an opera‚ Lewis undergoes transformative personal repercussions. His world views are challenged and enriched by the
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Cosi by Louis Nowra and Cosi Fan Tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are set in completely different times but both themes of the play parallel each other. Cosi was set in 1970’s society whilst Cosi Fan Tutte was set in 1790. Cosi Fan Tutte is play about love and fidelity which parallels with what happens in Cosi. On the surface they are parallel because Lucy is unfaithful to Lewis when they are in a relationship together just as the women were in Cosi Fan Tutte. But it is much more than that. To really
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