English

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Explore how Louis Nowra is able to control and shape the way an audience responds to his text, ‘Cosi’.

‘Cosi’, by Louis Nowra, is a semi-autobiographical play that is effectively controlled and shaped by Nowra to shed light on the underlying meaning of the discrimation towards the ostracised patients, which the author himself is attempting to convey. Louis Nowra’s most longing experiences with his grandparents are mirrored onto Lewis to assist Nowra in controlling and shaping the way his responders react to Cosi. Similarly, it is through the contextual understanding of the play, Nowra is given the opportunity to dominate the audience's empathy of the contemporary perceptions of the society in the 1970s, hoping to shape the perspective of the audience. Alternatively, the development of Nick is a major catalyst in shedding light to discrimination of the patients, thus he controls and shapes the way the audience perceives both the ostracised patients and the outsiders. All together, these aspects have enabled Nowra in effectively controlling and shaping the way his responders interact and react to Cosi's underlying meaning of the discrimation towards the ostracised patients.

Louis Nowra’s most longing experiences with his grandparents has left a vivid print in his young mind where these evocative memories are then mirrored onto Lewis to control and shape the way audiences react to Cosi. Similar to how Nowra, a pot maker has to pummel and knead a ball of clay and make it undergoes a series of stages until it finally reaches the stage where it is appreciated and valued by the viewers and buyers. Nowra mirrors his experiences to Lewis to control the way his audience react to his play Cosi. By reflecting Nowra's evocative memories of his grandparents, he is able to shed light on the brutal treatment of the outside world, thus controlling the way his audience reacts to the mentally ill patients in the society of the 1970s. Nowra takes on the persona of his characters as he discusses his beliefs and though the drama may be fiction, it is a semi-autobiographical play which discusses important issues.Nowra’s direct views on the mentally ill are made evident through Lewis’ dialogue where he states, “But she is still my grandma”. Lewis’ pitiful tone towards mentally ill is made evident in the adjective ‘still’, where he expresses that although her grandma is mentally unstable, she ‘still’ possesses characters of a ‘grandma’. The distressing tone present in the adverb ‘but’ challenges society's negative connotations of ‘mad’ and ‘insane’, by justifying that although his ‘grandma’ is mentally unstable, she is ‘still’ his ‘grandma’. Nowra has excellently embodied his experiences using Lewis to generate sympathy towards the mentally ill to form an interconnection where the audience aspires to treat them with better care and equality. Nowra's intentions are exactly similar to a pot maker who controls the speed of the pottery wheel along with the texture of the clay mix. A pot maker kneads the clay until it feels bendy and when the texture is acceptable he begins to press the clay mix with palms using the weight of his own body. Nowra’s connection with a pot maker has made it effortless to understand the way in which Nowra controls the way his audience reason to Cosi. Nowra mirrors his young reminiscent experiences of his grandparents to Lewis and then changes the responder’s judgements of the mental patients by through sympathy. Therefore, Nowra effectively shapes the way audience respond to the contemporary issues in Cosi through mirroring his young sympathetic experiences.

Through the contextual understanding of the play ‘Cosi’, Nowra is provided with an opportunity to control the audience's understanding of the contemporary perceptions of the society in the 1970s, hoping to shape the perspective of the audience. Context acts as a marked area of land, where certain borderlines are present for Nowra to express his views, within those set limits. The use of these borderlines in this marked land area leaves Nowra to act within his limits to further reflect the society's views on the mentally ill, thus helps him shapes the way his audience react to these brutal treatments. The context of the contemporary 1970s, reminds the audience of the ongoing controversial issues due to the Vietnam war and this further provides the audience a foundation that assist them in comprehending the society's barbaric behavior and treatment towards the mentally ill patients. Nowra reminds his audience that due to the Vietnam war and historical events such as the moratorium marches that took place in the 1970’s, the society is drifting away from love, care and companionship. War has created an era where the vulnerable are trod onto the very dirt to remind them of their uselessness in such a distressing period of Australian soldiers dying in Vietnam. Audiences experience the harsh reality of the lifestyle of mental patients.

The confronting reality of the treatment of the patient is a significant part of Cosi as Nowra delivers the real controversial messages of the drama he wrote. In a pottery wheel, the outline or the edge of the circular wheel acts as a borderline where the pot maker is only allowed to carve and knead the clay within the outline of the wheel. For instance, Justin’s emotive tone present in, “the experiment is over” reiterates the cruel treatment of the public. The word “experiment” in context links back to lab rats being tested, when Justin refers to the mental patients as an “experiment” it dehumanises them and detaches them from society. Nowra has excellent performs his act within the borderlines of the context by controlling the characterisation of Justin. Nowra has constructed Justin’s dialogue in a way that contrasts with his personality and moral values. By using the dialogue, “the experiment is over”, Justin’s values are directly contrasted to emphasise the sort of emotions ostracised patients feel when they are confronted with such criticism. When Justin directs this dialogue at Lewis, both Lewis along with the audience feel a sense of guilt for using negative connotations such as ‘mad’ and ‘insane’ to address mentally ill. Through addressing the sensitive topic of mental illness, Nowra successfully controls the way audience respond to the barbaric treatment of the society, thus assists the responders in reflecting on their own moral behaviour towards the ostracised. This relates to the context as by defining the word “experiment”, Nowra shows the responders how the contemporary society of 1970 dehumanises the mentally ill patient due to their mental instability from the war. Nowra conveys the idea of how the society continues to ostracise the patients and dehumanise them due to their incapabilities. Thus, the emotive tone present through context effectively provides a foundation in which the audience can comprehend the ignorant  behaviour of the society.

Nowra has developed outsiders such as Nick to act as major catalysts in shedding light onto societal matters such as discrimination to control and shape the way the audience perceives both the ostracised patients and the outsiders. He is able to give an insight to how the contemporary society in the 1970s perceived the mentally ill, to assist Nowra to shape his audiences’ views, to sympathise and connect with the marginalised patients. Nowra controls the views of the audience from the very moment the audience is introduced into the harsh reality of the ‘real’ world. This rejectful tone created by Nick assists Nowra to then shape the way his audience views, juxtaposing both sides. The audience begins to sympathise with the mentally ill patients and grow emotions such as hate and detest towards the contemporary society of the 1970s. By introducing Nick and thoroughly inspecting his behavior throughout the course of the play, Nowra both controls and shapes his audience's understanding of Cosi as they begin to generate emotions these emotions. Nick’s denouncing prejudice along with unpolished attitudes towards the patients reflects the ignorance 1970s society has towards the patients. Nicks prejudice towards the mentally ill patients is depicted in the song, ‘They are coming to take me away’. This song alludes to Napoleon XIV’s song, that views mentally ill as contagious and somewhat frightening. Nowra uses the song to reflect Nick’s attitudes towards the mentally ill. By incorporating a song that dehumanises the mentally ill, Nowra moulds an emotional perspective for those who are mentally ill. The use of emotive tone present in the song aids the audience in developing a sympathetic view towards the patients as the society has ostracised and mock people who are mentally unstable. By moving the viewers into an emotional state, Nowra controls the ways audiences perceive both worlds. Hence, by encouraging his viewers to re-evaluate the way in which they respond to the prejudices in their own communities, Nowra effectively shapes their reaction to Cosi’s underlying meaning of the discrimination of the ostrasised patients.

In summary, Cosi’s composer, Louis Nowra has successfully controlled and shaped the way in which the audience interacts and responds to Cosi. His most longing experiences with his grandparents are mirrored onto Lewis to control and shape establish realist emotional responses to Cosi. It is through the contextual understanding of the play Cosi, Nowra is provided with an opportunity to control the audience's understanding of the contemporary perceptions of the society in the 1970s, hoping to shape the perspective of the audience. The development of characters such as Nick are a major catalyst in shedding light onto discrimination of the patients. Therefore, Nowra effectively controls and shapes the way his audience perceive both the ostracised patients and the outsiders.