Cosi Play Essay

Cosi was a play about an up and coming director who was given the opportunity to direct a show that would be put on by patients in a mental institution. Lewis, the director, did not seem too excited about the opportunity but he takes on the job and works hard. The play is set in the 1970’s during anti-Vietnam war protests in Sydney, Australia. The acting in Cosi was at a variety of different skill levels. Since the play was set in Australia, the actors were using Australian accents which was distracting at times because that is a difficult accent to be able to pull off. I was impressed by the believability of the actress who played Ruth, confused by the goals of the character Lewis, and intrigued by the character Roy. My favorite character

Roy served as sort of a co-director to Lewis. He appeared to have some sort of manic disorder but he had a great passion for theater. I found Roy’s character to be very believable and I think that the actor did a great job of playing him. Roy had a goal to create an amazing production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte and his intense enthusiasm for theater shined through as he worked toward this goal. Roy did not let his mental illness get in the way on his journey to create the production, but there were times when his mental illness did become an obstacle for him. For example, whenever the patients were having a difficult time creating a scene and Lewis did not direct them correctly, Roy would often become extremely flustered. Based on the play, it seems like Roy’s super-objective is to become a real director and take charge on his own. It is not clear what exactly his motivation is to make this play so perfect, but it could possibly be to prove himself as a functioning individual even with his mental illness. Roy’s character added humor and excitement to the show and it gave the plot clear direction. I found it very interesting to watch Matthew Cavender act because he did so with such great excitement and the audience can feel the emotion and passion behind Roy’s desire to make the play successful. Cavender’s acting was very impressive because he was able to act as if he had a mental illness