(in order of appearance)

Cosi fan Tutte tastic! www.indielondon.co.uk

An outstanding theatre event www.reviewsgate.com

An absolute gem North London Press

TNT Magazine

Cosi fan Tutte tastic!

www.indielondon.co.uk
by Emma Whitelaw
17th October 2004

WHEN life poses one of its many challenges, it pays to be a little insane. Lewis Nowra’s playful comedy Cosi, now playing at the Bridewell Theatre is a classic case of life imitating art imitating insanity.

Based in the 70s, during the Vietnam War, we find an eclectic mix of would-be thespians in a burned out theatre somewhere deep in the heart of Melbourne, Australia. Actors are always seen to be slightly eccentric, but these aren’t your normal fame-crazed wannabes. There’s a pyromaniac, a junkie, a knife-wielding romantic, a confused realist, a lithium-addicted pianist who hates Mozart and a stuttering ex-lawyer who refuses to take part in the production. But like any aspiring young actors they all have their hearts in the right place; as long as they have their medication, that is!

Gareth Howells plays Lewis, the enthusiastically naïve director of this troop of mental patients. Fresh from university, Lewis has no idea what he is in for when he meets with social-worker, Justin, played by Steven Anstee. Justin tells Lewis that the plan is to bring the patients out of their shells through the therapy of theatre. Lewis supposedly can do whatever he pleases, which is all good and well until he meets ringleader and opera buff, Roy.

Gareth Richardson is fantastic as the effervescent Roy. His enthusiasm borders on tyranny, yet it is his very passion that brings both the cast and the play to life – against all odds. It is Roy’s dream to do Mozart’s classic, Cosi fan Tutte, a musical of love, fidelity and mistaken identity. Despite Lewis’ objections that a play by Bertolt Brecht would be far easier, the cast decide upon Mozart. The events that follow are riotous. The more we learn of each character, the more we grow to love their insanity.

Michael King is superb as the cat-burning Doug, having been released from the confinement of Ward C, Doug wreaks havoc upon the production, setting fire to the theatre on more than one occasion. Rob Carroll plays Zac, the pianist, who takes one too many pills and passes out before the curtain even goes up. And Andrew Beynon plays Henry, the failed lawyer, who apparently doesn’t speak yet does the unthinkable and mentions Macbeth!

Despite these setbacks, and in the face of adversity, the cast somehow triumph and the show is a tremendous success by all accounts. The experience does wonders for all involved and their lives will never be the same again. Everyone loves a tale about an underdog and Cosi is most certainly no exception!

An outstanding theatre event

www.reviewsgate.com
Review by Timothy Ramsden
17 October 2004

a too-rare chance to see a fine Australian playwright’s work in a beautifully-played production.

Ocean Theatre Company’s strong revival of Cosi is an all-too-rare chance to see work by one of Australia’s finest playwrights. The spacious Bridewell is perfect for the old theatre where young director Lewis, straight from uni, gets to work with a group of asylum inhabitants. It’s another reminder of what a valuable venue London will lose when the theatre has to close early next year.

Cosi is an early work, set during the Vietnam war. Lewis nervously suggests his cast do Brecht but keen ex-actor Roy is determined to perform Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte. Deserted by his politically active director friend Nick and girl-friend Lucy, Lewis crumbles before the assembled cast (men and women enter separately, echoing, as with later developments between Lewis and his girl-friend, the opera’s world of faltering trust between the sexes).

He gets it from all sides; his friends can’t believe he’s not doing something political, social worker Justin almost cancels the project, the aim of bringing the patients out of their shells seems unattainable as the volatile cast stay resolutely uncoordinated.

Andrew Miller’s confident production finds humour and sympathy as Nowra’s action sweeps along, expertly structured, giving each character an appropriate moment to develop. At its heart is people's need to hold their world together – through politics, art or relationships. Gareth Howells holds the centre as Lewis, a character who often has to watch as his plans threaten to implode. Yet slowly he develops stronger two-way bonds than with his former friends.

Michael King’s dangerous edge as Doug, the compulsive arsonist, Rob Carroll’s musician, zonked out on pills, veer towards comedy. So, in a sense, does Natasha Magigi’s ample Cherry, forever stuffing food in Lewis’s mouth and seeking a spot of undying love with him. But Magigi, wheeling between soft desire and tough retribution, also generates sympathy, as does Gareth Richardson’s ex-actor, a modern Bottom forever critical of his director. Alex McTavish’s Ruth, desperate to be told precisely what to do and Fiona Putnam’s self-aware but dependent Julie play truthfully through their serious moments.

And Henry Beynon’s Henry makes his eventual patriotic outburst - producing toy soldiers from his pocket, locked in memories of his soldier-father killed in action - a gripping moment in a fine production.

An absolute gem

North London Press
review by Dale Cartwright
12th October 2004

Over the last 10 years, the Bridewell Theatre has established itself as one of the major fringe theatres’ in London for succinct and sleek production. Never afraid to be innovative, it has hosted a gamut of production companies that have, time and again, worked wonders on the boards.

Ocean Theatre Company’s Cosi, written by Louis Nowra and directed by Andrew Miller is a delightfully droll glimpse at what happens when a group of mental health patients attempt to put on Mozart’s opera Cosi Fan Tutte under the less then experienced hand of a well-meaning university student. Miller’s tutelage of a cast that exuded confidence, capability and a presence on stage more that proved that this is one production that is as funny as it is first-rate, polished as it is poignant.

An absolute gem, and not to be missed!

TNT Magazine
review by Janelle Estreich
18th October 2004

Mental illness and politics may not seem like an obvious choice for a comedy, but Louis Nowra's Cosi has a knack for making you laugh when it would normally be inappropriate to do so. Set in Australia in the 1970's, the play plots the attempt of drama graduate Lewis to direct a group of mental patients in staging Mozart's opera Cosi Fan Tutte, all against the backdrop of the Vietnam War.

The cast more than meet the demands of their mad characters; Gareth Richardson's enthusiastic portrayal of domineering psychotic Roy is infectious while Aussie actor Michael King is disturbingly funny as pyromaniac Doug.

You'd be crazy to miss this.