Cosi

John Misto, the creator of the Australian play ‘The Shoe-Horn Sonata’ used distinctly visual techniques to highlight the past distinctive experiences during World War II, shared by two friends, Sheila and Bridie. Through the use of powerful dialogue, and engaging dramatic techniques, Misto explores, through their testimonies, the untold story of hundreds and thousands of women imprisoned by the Japanese in South East Asia. Misto features the play around the recounts and flashbacks of Bridie, an Australian army nurse, and Sheila, a young English girl both of whom were captured and sent to prisoner of war camps under the Japanese authority. The failure of the military and government authorities, as well as the will to survive, the

     Ruth’s dream is to improve her family’s lifestyle and move into a house where she can raise Travis and the new baby. To realize her dreams she should not put everyone else’s wants and needs in front of hers all of the time. She should express her feelings more often so that her family will listen and help her to reach her goals. The play supports this view by showing how Ruth often neglects her feelings and pays great attention to her family’s feelings, wants, and needs.

This very much represents the physical crossing from the ‘normal’ world into a world which is not seen from the outside, and pushed to the edge of society, and further resembles a glimpse of hope for the patients’ recovery. In the later scenes of the play, during the performance of Mozart’s opera, the entire theatre has been transformed into something completely different, with its white walls, the bright, colourful costumes, and Mozart’s “music of the spheres” echoing within the once dark and dismal place. The new theatre in all its splendour metaphorically resembles the transformations of the characters themselves, and from this, the audience is encouraged to realise the significance and therapeutic nature of art, in this case theatre and music: “the music of this opera will keep the world in harmony”, especially in contrast to hopeless treatments such as shock therapy. Through his play, Nowra also encourages the audience to agree with his personal view that war is unnecessary, and in a way is a kind of madness itself, due to its chaotic and uncontrollable nature.

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

A distinctly visual aspect of demonstrating the experience of the characters kindles curiosity in the audience to involve and instill emotional understanding of the context. Through the use of distinct and unique techniques, composers create an emotional response that can have a significant effect on the responders’ attitude on the world. The play ‘The shoe-horn sonata’ explores the crisis of circumstances as John Misto depicts the forgotten history of the women captured and imprisoned during WW2. Misto explores the experiences of the Australian nurses and the government’s response to their pleads of salvation, to emotionally bind the audience and the characters. Likewise, David Douglas Duncan involves the audience by evoking a feeling of pity and empathy in his Korean War photograph. He creates sentiment for the loss of innocence and employs distinctly visual elements to convey the horrifying nature of war. He profoundly highlights power in the photograph to explore the despair felt by the weak fleeing Korean citizens. Hence, both authors elevate the context with a visual representation of the individuals’ struggles to create curiosity and emotional rapport with the audience to improve the understanding of the characters experiences.

“The Shoe- Horn Sonata” is a play by John Misto that gives an insight into two lives of two female POWs in WW II and is a vector of Misto’s thoughts. It explores the little known and often terrible events associated with female prisoners of war. The play follows a friendship of two women through the war to a point of tension that’s beyond what any normal friendship would have to deal with. Misto engages his audience by using a multitude of mediums to portray his story creating a truly multimedia performance. The playwright challenges the audience to look beyond this to the underlying ideas of survival, loyalty and truth.

Contemporary Australian theatre mainly focuses on the reflection of the ‘real’ Australia and communicating to the audience real and modern issues/ideas that respond to the social climate and community. Australian theatre practitioners use various performance styles, techniques and dramatic conventions to help portray their ideas to their audiences and make them feel a particular way to the ideas presented in a play. Without the use of these styles, techniques and conventions it wouldn’t be possible for the practitioners to emphasise their ideas.

"A Philosophy of Theater « " East of Mina. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2011.

"Nowadays the plays' meaning is usually blurred by the fact that the actor plays to the audiences hearts. The figures portrayed are foisted on the audience and are falsified in the process. Contrary to present custom they ought to be presented quite coldly, classically and objectively. For they are not matter for empathy; they are there to be understood and politely added

At the Ingle Farm Recreation Centre, Viviane Walsh’s 60 minute play ‘This is where we live’ played on the 2nd and 3rd of June. Directed by Jon Halpin and through James Smith and Matilda Bailey’s performance the story of a Chloe, a disabled and violent year 12, is told. Chloe moves to home of her mother’s abusive boyfriend in a ‘one highway town’ and she does not like any of it. Well except for the shy, weird boy, Chris, sitting up the front of her English class but the play shows us that sometimes falling in love isn’t the way to move forward.

They forget about love and true happiness until it is too late. Wilder reminds the audience how precious daily life is, because it determines our true reality. Throughout the play we are reminded that everything changes. Nothing stays the same forever and time goes by very fast. Wilder also demonstrates how people become concerned with the well-being of others. He tells us that the salvation of others is out of our control. For example, Simon Stimson was the church organist and town drunk. The town’s people have compassion for Stimson, but they are unable to save him from his self-imposed agony. The author also shows us that love can transform us. Another example, George and Emily both loved each other but were both scared to get married. They were both scared of growing old. They wanted to stay young forever. It is these life lessons that are classified as tragic or sentimental. The audience may catch a glimpse of the profound understanding and respect Wilder had for life

“Theatre makes us think about power and the way our society works and it does this with a clear purpose, to make a change.”

Through his title, Wilder encourages his audience to imagine that the play is taking place in their town or their place of influence. Additionally, the minimalistic sets in the play allow the viewers to visualize elaborate sets of their own–possibly their own homes. For example, at the start of the play, only a “table and three chairs” (pg. 3) and a “bench” (3) occupy the stage. Finally, Wilder titled each act to sum up the basic events of life to show that the whole play is about the life in general. In the words of the Stage manager, “The First Act was called the Daily Life. This act is called Love and Marriage. There's another act coming after this: I reckon you can guess what that's about” (48). Most of us can guess the name of the last act, Death, because it is an inevitable part of life. Since the play is essentially about how it is like to live, it is easy to understand the situations and emotions involved in the

Theme – the reason behind why the playwright wrote the play. “Patterns of life”, a slice of reality.

What is a main theme or idea this play brings up? What does it say about that theme? Use details from the play to provide evidence.