Cozy Essay
Cosi essay
Cosi is a play within a play, written by Louis Nowra, it is named after the opera ‘Cosi Fan Tutte’. The main character of the play is Lewis, he helps the patients of the mental institution put the play together. The play is divided into two acts, the first shows who the characters are and their personalities, the second is about the play that they’re performing and eventually the performance of the play. The journey of some characters in the play is an important part of who they become in the end, they experience love, relationships, they share their political thoughts and express who they are by what they do during the first act.
Cosi is set in the 1970’s in a mental institution. The year that Cosi was written, much social unrest was at play. The Vietnam war has been going on since 1962 and opposition in the form of protests had increased the length of the war. This only caused arguments within the cast of the play. The play is set in a “burnt-out” theatre, where they perform, in the mental institution. The fact that the mental institution was given a “burnt-out” theatre really shows how mistreated and judged people with mental illnesses were during those times, people mental illnesses were looked down on and weren’t treated as humans of the so called ‘normal’ world, they were treated as outcasts and were separated from everyone else in society. A main character in the play, Nick, outlines this judgement by creating a small little chant when he finds out that they’re doing a Mozart opera, Nick says “only mad people in this day and age would do a work about love and infidelity. They’re definitely mad.” Then Nick sings “They’re coming to take me away, ha, ha, to the funny farm”, Nick does this to egg on Lewis and to also make fun of the patients in the institution, just like the public does.
Lewis decided to direct and perform in the play because he “needed the money”. Lewis had just recently graduated from university and had no idea that he is getting involved with a play that will change his life forever. Throughout the play, Lewis experiences love and he then re-evaluates why he chose to direct the play based on his new views on love. In the beginning of the play Lewis is dating a girl named Lucy who affects all of Lewis’ decisions that he’s made through the time that they’ve spent together, as the play progresses Lewis starts talking to Julie and because of Julie Lewis understands more perspectives of love and what it means. In the early scenes of the play Lewis seemed uncertain and hesitant while directing the play, Lewis’ only motive was to direct the play due to his need for money. Lewis dreamt of putting on a play that is relevant to what’s going on during that time, like the Vietnam war, but Roy insists on performing Cosi Fan Tutte which expresses emotions like love. Love is the main emotion experienced by many of the characters during Cosi, by Lewis especially. Lewis’ girlfriend, Lucy, doesn’t believe in love and doesn’t see it as important. So when Lucy finds out that Lewis is directing and performing in a play about love and fidelity, she gets upset because she thought that Lewis shared the same feelings about love as she did, Lucy says “After bread, a shelter, equality, health, procreation…comes maybe love…love is an emotional indulgence for the privileged few”, what Lucy means by saying this is she thinks that love is one of the least important things that a human needs, Lucy also says that love is gross and “icky” and the play, Cosi, persuades the opposite view of this. Cosi is all about love, hence why Lucy doesn’t think that Lewis should direct and perform in the play because Lucy thinks that Lewis also believes the same about love, with Lucy thinking this, she is stopping herself from experiencing an inner journey. Lewis, in the beginning of the play was all about the money and he didn’t really have empathy for the patients, he was tied down in a relationship that lacked love and was basically pointless, but with every scene of the play Lewis learns about love and gets to know the patients more on an individual scale and he starts understanding what they’re like and wo they really are.
As the play progresses, Lewis moves further along his journey and starts to form a friendship with Julie. As Lewis slowly gains more confidence in directing the patients, he also experiences feelings of empathy for them as he gets to know them and their past more. Further into the play, Lucy says “working with these people has changed you”, Lucy is referring to Lewis and how the play and even the patients have changed how Lewis sees love and its importance for a happy life. In the beginning of the play Lewis says “love is not so important nowadays”, when Lewis said this, he was being influenced by the values of both Lucy and Nick, as they share the same views on love, but this doesn’t last for long as he starts to see love completely differently after meeting Julie. This part of Lewis’ journey is the most important because it’s when he starts to realise that he has different views on love to Lucy and Lewis also realises that Lucy and his friend Nick have been spending a lot more time with each other. Julie is a big influence on Lewis and his feelings, because when Lucy and Lewis have an argument whether Lewis should stay and work with the patients on the play or go to the moratorium for the Galileo rehearsals, Lewis tells Lucy “it’s about important things – like love and fidelity” Lucy replies will “how to understand how capitalism exploits the working class is important. How to stop the war in Vietnam is important”. When Lucy said, this Lewis got angry and Lucy tells Lewis that she’s having sex with Nick, Lewis then breaks up with Lucy and from that point, Lewis starts to discover himself in the play. Lewis learns more about the patients through the middle of his journey and starts to get closer with Julie. Lewis also feel more comfortable directing and acting with the patients.