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COSI

On November 6th, 7th and 8th at the Chikusa Playhouse in Nagoya, maidenagoya productions will present Louis Nowra's hilarious comedy, Cosi. Set in Australia in 1971, Cosi is the story of a group of mental patients attempting to stage Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte. The chaos, despair and ultimate jubiliation at what they achieve makes this one of Australia's most famous plays and is being performed in Japan for the first time.

Show times are 7pm on the Friday evening and 2pm and 6pm on both Saturday and Sunday. Tickets can be purchased at the Nagoya City Chikusa Playhouse (TEL: 052-745-6235) or at the The Red Rock Aussie Bar & Grill in Sakae (052-262-7893).

For further enquiries please email us at maidenagoya@gmail.com or call 052-733-2025.

COSI - PLOT SUMMARY

Lewis Riley, the main character, is a sleek young, inexperienced university student who is given the task of directing a play in a mental hospital. At first he is not keen to do so, giving the reason for having taken on this job as "I need the money". The venue is a theatre that smells of "burnt wood and mould", the cast are patients with very diverse needs, and the play is Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. Through working with the patients, Lewis eventually discovers a new side of himself which allows him to become emotionally involved and to value love, while anti-Vietnam war protests erupt in the streets outside.

COSI - OTHER CHARACTERS

The patients make up a wide spectrum including Doug, a pyromaniac; Cherry, a sex-addicted, Lewis-addicted romantic and compulsive liar; Julie, a philosophical junkie; Roy, a manic-depressive with a passion for theatre; Henry, an older, silent man, previously a lawyer; Ruth, obsessed with counting and Zac, a drugged up pianist. Other characters include Lewis' girlfriend Lucy and his best mate Nick, whose strongly left-wing ideals Lewis has followed up until now without question. Meeting patients with different views to Lucy and Nick opens Lewis' eyes to other people and the world around him, teaching him to be more tolerant.

LOUIS NOWRA ON COSI

"Everyone goes mad in their own particular way. The actors performing COSI have to go mad in their own individual way", said Nowra. Nowra thinks madness is too generalised, and it is based on each individuals past and experiences. At the end, Lewis is no longer afraid of madness. Lewis is thoroughly transformed by the patients. Nowra uses a mixture of laughter and madness, which is a volatile mixture. "We usually see madness as dark and scary, so we can keep it in a corner and ignore it". When Nowra adds humour to it, then we begin to be able to relate to it, they share similar emotions.

Nowra says: "Lewis has to face various hurdles throughout the play. He suffers from a lack of gumption at first. His major hurdle is Henry. Lewis realises that he has got to get Henry to stay. Through rehearsing he is falling in love with the patients. Every scene is a hurdle. Each time he learns to love the patients as individuals. He goes on what is called a character arc. It is a 'fish out of water story'. Lewis is thrust into another world to transform him. Often, when someone doesn't have a family or friends due to a dysfunctional past (in Lewis' case his relationship with Nick and Lucy is going downhill) he then makes the patients his family, he finds a new sense of reality with them".

Vietnam War is what Lewis believes in at first. But he will agree with anyone at the start, so long as it keeps the peace. When Lewis enters the asylum it is like an island (thrust into another world). The patients don't even know there is a war going on. Lewis is transformed by his experience. How it works is that you stick people on this island, and watch how they change. They are forced to face their demons because they can't get off the island.