Attitudes Towards Mental Illness in the Play Cosi by Louis Nowra

Not only did it help to aid in giving the viewer an idea of the setting of the play, but also aided in the over feel and mood of the production.

Stage directions – Upon arriving in his new office in Australia. Frank is wearing shorts, a short sleeved shirt and a handkerchief with tied corners on his head looking every inch the out of place, quintessential British man on holiday, slightly sweaty and flustered from the Australian heat. The study is small and untidy but quite reminiscent of his office back in England. Frank starts to unpack his belongings, putting books into shelves, he starts smiling oddly at a new copy of Roger McGough's poems, he opens the book and reads the inscription aloud;

The stage directions reveals “The Theatre.The performance is over.Lewis,tired and sweaty but pleased is talking to Justin who shakes his hand”. Following this, Justin's repetition in “marvellous. Just marvellous” proves that Lewis’ work with the mental patients was successful. His ability to gain friendships and develop a deeper understanding of the patients, suggests his growth and transformation was a success expanded as lewis’ sense of identity strengthened as he grew closer to the patients.This is further proven as roy addresses the audience “Next year, a greater triumph awaits us, Jerry.The Don!”. Roy happiness at the end of the play cements the idea of Lewis’ transformation by demonstrating how much Lewis has impacted on the patients, giving them a border outlook on life and providing them with a sense of belonging to the world.When Lewis directly addresses the audience “Yes, Roy. There was no next year. The theatre mysteriously burnt down a week after the performance….. time to turn out the lights”.Thus breaking the fourth wall the illusion of the theatre is broken down.This highlighting to the audience the directors dramatic intent of the play Cosi which was to spark a change in social attitudes towards mental illness but not only that but to come to his own terms with contextual issues and experiences of the mental illness and

The burnt out theatre in Nowra's play 'Cosi' represents the life inside an asylum, a life that the characters know all too well. Life inside an asylum is portrayed as a dark, cold and isolated place, where the outside world is not often talked about and for others almost doesn't exist. Most of the characters cannot handle reality but for Nowra is is about exposing the hard times and the difficult lives of the patients. Lewis is fresh out of university and took on a job as a play director at the asylum, but is a bit unsettled when he first inspects the theatre that they will be

The Stage Manager, which is known to the narrator, also shows up in many different scenes as a character. For example, he comes into a scene as Mr. Morgan the drugstore owner who serves ice cream to Emily and George. The play had a lot of objects that were not presently there, the characters did their best trying to symbolize what it would be like using those objects. An example,

There was a point in time in which the world of medicine was very unevolved and humanity knew so little about certain areas of the body. In the case of the play “a Doll House” and the story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the brain was very unexplored. Mental illnesses were not really given what in modern day would be called “treatment”. This “treatment” could severely alter the lives of the patients with severe mental consequences.

In the play Our Town, by Thornton Wilder, the Stage Manager is meant to be a source of inspiration, wisdom, and sadness. An important question to consider is who is this Stage Manager? He is, essentially, a narrator that guides the audience through the play; the Stage Manager is an unconventional character. He is simply not just a character in the play. He could be considered a member of the crew, staging the play as well. He exists simultaneously in two dramatic realms. At the beginning of Act I, he identifies the play and the playwright, and introduces the director, the producer, and the actors. Furthermore, every act begins and ends with the Stage Manager’s explanations and announcements.

The structure of the plot itself is unusual. There are no props and no backdrop; the Stage Manager is the only thing or person on stage at the beginning of the play. There is also no fourth wall when it comes to the Stage Manager; he speaks directly to the audience as he says,

Priestley uses stage directions as another dramatic device which helps show the way the characters speak to each other. It shows how the characters must act, directs emotion and creates tension. An example of this is:

The stage manager serves as a narrator and gives the reader (or the audience) critical information throughout the play. Wilder’s purpose for writing the story in third person is so that the story can be whole and effective, as opposed to if it were written in first person, where only parts of the story could be told. Through the third person point of view, Wilder achieves his purpose, and is able to tell the story completely and objectively.

This I thought was a very different, but clever way of expressing large scenes. Occasionally a follow spot was used to highlight some parts of the of the play for comical effect. At the beginning Richard is asked to look out the window by Annabella and when he does two actors run on stage with a lamp post and as soon as they are on the spot light is on and when they leave it's off again, they did this to give a sense of perspective from the window to the street and also to take the mick out of classic thrillers.

The play illustrated the ugly side of the world by acting them into small little scenes in the play that happens all around the room. What I personally feel about the play was the scenes are all so true! The same incident is happening around us every

Stage (blocking) directions are not included in a play script. All blocking is a director’s decision.

The Characters battle for the stage, in order to impose their view of reality and experience on the others. The Stepdaughter wants to possess the stage to allow the full communication of her experience, but the Father argues one of the key points of the play:

Stage directions are used as way of allowing playwrights to give direction as to what is supposed to be happening on the stage, and is used to enhance the audience’s experience and involvement in the play. Stage direction is used to great effect by both Arthur Miller and Brian Friel in their plays. In A View From the Bridge, Arthur Miller’s stage directions are very intricate, and detailed to the point of sounding strange at times, “After a moment of watching her face Eddie breaks into a smile, but it almost seems that tears will form in his eyes”. Brian Friel’s stage directions are very similar, as they too involve a considerable