Era and Tiana's presentation of the theme of 'illusion and reality' within Cosi.

1. ILLUSION REALITY

2. The question regarding what is real and what is
an illusion underlines the entire text of Cosi.
 Illusion could be defined as art, whereas reality could be defined as life
 Illusion and reality is weaved through the patients’ state of mentality
 The characters either have difficulty distinguishing between the two, or have the
inability to handle either one or the other
 Play within a play – theatre as an illusion

3.  Unable to cope with illusion as it is a concept that she cannot control
 Constantly anxious about the precise truth and does not want to make a fool of herself
“I’m not going to sing a song that is not word perfect”
 Her desire to differentiate between illusion in reality proves her struggle with being
able to prove which is which
 Concerned with tangible details (For example, having real coffee in the opera, or exact
steps to take across the stage) “the more real it is, the more real it is”
 The difference between reality and illusion during the play is unimportant to the
audience, they accept theatrical illusion as a temporary reality unlike Ruth who “can
handle something being an illusion or real but not at the same time”
 Her pointless questions highlight the unreliability of our own perceptions of the physical
world. “Are you going to use real trees?”
 “Comedy is better when it’s real”

4.  Creates an illusion in order to escape the harsh reality of the past.
 Desires to create “a world that was like my childhood: tea parties, dances in our
ballroom, circus performers to perform just for me”
 In his reality he was not provided with love, compassion or any form of belonging, but
in his illusion he is able to find the happiness he yearns for in his life
 He attempts to find a sense of ‘sane’ reality by joining the production as he wants to be
a part of the outer community
 Uses theatre to create a new purpose in his life. “That’s the world I wanted Cosi Fan
Tutte to capture – recapture”
 Creates his own ideological memories of his childhood in attempt to supress emotions
of abandonment and neglect… “sometimes a vision is destroyed”
 “Everything is coming alive. Everything matches my vision”

5.  Both require drugs in order to satisfy/enjoy their lives. “A lower dosage. It’s amazing
how much more bright the world seems”
 Zac is unable to cope with reality. His madness is an inability to cope with the real
world in a normal way. “I can’t stand real things. If I could put up with reality I
wouldn’t be in here”
 Julie wants to accept reality but the only way she feels alive is through an illusion
when on drugs. “Drugs make me feel sort of living”
 “Like lying in a warm, cloudy river. Some people can’t imagine life without
love, well I can’t imagine life without junk”

6.  Madness and illusion/reality are intertwined
 Cherry’s story about her father leaves both Lewis and the audience unsure whether it is an
illusion or reality
“Those lakes can get cold when you’re swimming in them with a dead duck in your mouth.
Just pulling your leg. Sucked you right in, didn’t I?
 Cherry’s infatuation for Lewis – it is in her imagination that he feels the same way for her
 Cherry is able to distinguish between Roy’s illusion/reality – “he spent most of his early life in
orphanages”
 Doug blames all but himself as his reason for being in the mental institution
 Delusional into thinking that it is the cat or his mother’s fault, when in reality it is his own
“If it wasn’t for that damn cat, I wouldn’t be here”
“Don’t blame me, blame my mother”
 Henry’s supposedly paralysed left arm in an “invisible sling”, however towards the end of the
play it changes to his right. “It changes”

7.  Reality and illusion is explored through the ‘insane’ characters as well as the ‘sane’
characters
 In denial, Lewis deluded himself into believing that Lucy was faithful
 However, in reality, all obvious signs such as Nick residing in the same home, and
Nick and Lucy spending more time together indicated that Lucy was in fact blatantly
disloyal
 “Reality is unique, people often use illusions in order to avoid the truth”
(The ‘insane’ may possess great insight that ‘sane’ people do not)
 Unsure of the definition of free love – “a hard concept to define”

8.  Nick and Lucy represent mainstream society or ‘reality’
 Society creates an illusion around the concept of asylums
 Their stigmatising attitudes towards the patients reflect a general ignorance
 Nick is organising the Moratorium for the Vietnam War – a current/’real’ affair
 Lucy’s confusing stance on love and fidelity – “I have sex with him and sleep with
you”

9.  Nowra forces the audience to question their own perceptions of what is real and what is an illusion
 He blurs the lines between reality and illusion and what is socially accepted and what is not
 Each individual has some way of altering their own reality, or constructing new ones that are more
bearable
 Sometimes illusion is necessary to escape the difficult circumstances that individuals face (E.g. Julie
and Zac, living in an illusion is better than living in reality)
 Illusion is simply reality that has not been made (E.g. Roy’s dream of the opera is a manifestation of
his illusionary past)
 That theatre is an illusion in itself and allows the characters to create their own new reality within the
play – the opera provides an escape for the patients, it is closely linked to their lives

In blurring the boundary between illusion and reality, Nowra is able to make an important connection
between art and life
 The merging of real and illusionary worlds draws parallels between art and life, and highlights the
importance of art in our lives