EACH PERSON IN COSI HAS THEIR OWN WAY OF ESCAPING THEIR REALITY. DISCUSS
Louis Nowra in his drama “Cosi” presents all the characters in the play as troubled in their past and present life. As the drama progresses the audience realises how the characters use to get away from their painful reality in different ways. By turning their reality into illusions, some characters were able to escape problems faced in their past life. In many instances the mental patients were in the asylum for living an awful past. Living in a Fantasy was the only way of avoiding what they have been through their earlier life. Doug story about burning the cat revealed his past troubles with his mum. “one of the cats ran into the house, in couple of minutes the whole bloody house was alight”. This incident has caused him to become a pyromaniac, which he now thrives on to cover up the guilt. Throughout the drama he tried to burn down the theatre twice which got him kicked out of the play. Roy was raised as an orphan all his life. He was treated brutally at the orphanage in his early life then was abandoned at the asylum. Using his imagination he created the illusion of living a prosperous life with his mum, full of music of Mozart, colourful costumes, tea parties and circus performers “Lullabies good night sung to me by my beautiful mother, lemonade brought to me by the maid. He chose the play “Cosi fan tutte” because it brought to life the dream he formed about living a flourishing life. In all these occasions their appalling past life has put them in circumstances that they have no choice but to be lost in illusions. Attending the theatre, made the mental patients were able to discard the horrible events happening at the mental institution. The purpose of the play was to “bring them out of their shell”. They all hated being trapped at the ward and the theatrical was the perfect opportunity to get away from it. Julie has been a drug addict even before she was dumped at the institution by her parents. Now drugs and alcohol has become her life. “some people can’t imagine life without love, well I can’t imagine life without junk” Doing the play was her only other option of departing from her obsessions. It also got her out of the ward which she highly considers as a limbo. “Cosi gave me something to think about, something to do”. Cherry use the drama as a method of getting away from the asylum. “God how I hate the ward”. She also use the play as a way of developing her relationship with Lewis. She felt jealous of Lewis and Julies’ relationship she tries to keep them apart. “kiss him again and I’ll break your fuckin arm”. She’s obsessed with food and makes Lewis eat her food. She felt like Lewis was the only person who accepts her so she used the play as diversion of getting close to him. Creating a sense of belonging to a group, displayed their willingness to get away from their reality. Coming together