Cosi

Lane Cove Theatre Company's Cosi was an entertaining night, with plenty of laughs flowing from Louis Nowra's script.

This piece of theatre offers lots of dramatic moments individually for each character, though director Debbie Smith, didn't seem to highlight these moments, focusing more on the comical elements.

The setting of Cosi is a burnt out theatre where seven mental patients rehearse to put on a play. Lewis, the fresh out of Uni director suggests a Brecht piece, but patient Roy is hell bent on performing the Italian opera Cosi Fan Tute. None of them being able to sing Opera or speak Italian is a recipe for disaster and that's what unfolds. The O'Kelly Theatre at St Ignatius College, Riverview (a temporary home for the group) is the perfect venue for this.

Costuming for Cosi was a little puzzling; with the play being set in the 1970's, a lot of the costumes didn't represent this, except for Zach the Hippie pianist.

The performances were generally of a high standard, from the experienced cast. Some seemed to portray the mental patients more fluently than others.

As the young director Lewis, John Edwards was very believable in making you believe he really cared for all the patients, even when things got out of hand. He also shared some intimate scenes with Kirsten Livie as the junkie Julie. You could feel the attraction and trust each had for each other on stage.

James Belfrage, playing the over enthused theatre fanatic patient Roy, was superb, with the right amount of energy needed this role, and its large amount of dialogue.

Lane Cove regular Anna Kourovale played the character of Cherie and squeezed all the laughs out of the role she could. Her accent was memorable and so was the physicality of her performance.

Cosi was a thoroughly enjoyable night of laughs, and an interesting insight looking at behind the walls of a group of patients trying to produce something they could be proud of.

BUY THE SCRIPT HERE.

James Russell

Photographer: Dawn Pugh.