HSC English (Standard) Student Workbook

Cosi Louis Nowra

Module B: Close Study of Text

Emily Bosco

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Module B: Close Study of Text

The overarching goal of this module is for “students to engage in a detailed analysis of a text”1. This means that you need to know all aspects of the text in depth, in order to successfully complete the requirements of this module. When you have an understanding of all the aspects of the text, you will be able to evaluate the ways in which the text impacts on the responder by analysing the language, form and features used to convey the thematic concerns of the text. This means that throughout your study of Louis Nowra’s play Cosi you will need to understand the following:

o Context o Plot o Dramatic structure o Characterisation o Language devices o Themes/ideas

Cosi: Understanding Context

Throughout Cosi, the characters refer to many social, cultural, historical, political and literary events and personalities. With the exception of references to Mozart and his opera Cosi Fan Tutte and the classical compositions of Wagner, these references cover a substantial portion of the mid-twentieth century, from the 1950s to the 1970s, revealing much about the personalities of the characters who mention them.

So, without a good working knowledge of the play’s context, it is difficult to access the full significance of much of the dialogue, including the humour. Thus, it is necessary for you to research the following aspects of the context:

o Mozart’s opera Cosi Fan Tutte o Wagner’s Valkyrie and The Twilight of the Gods o Popular culture from the 1950s to the 1970s:

Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin Little Richard’s Tutti Frutti The Troggs Wild Thing The Electric Prunes The Velvet Underground Walt Disney When You Wish Upon a Star

1 NSW Board of Studies English Stage 6 Prescriptions 2009-2014 p. 14

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o Social and political issues/events: Vietnam War Anti-Vietnam War Moratorium, Melbourne 1971 Paris May 1968 student protests ‘Hippie’ Movement – ‘Make Love Not War’ Rise of the Women’s Movement Treatment of the mentally ill in 1960s/1970s Australia

o Literary context/mythology: Bartolt Brecht – The Life of Galileo and The Exception and the Rule

Oscar Wilde

Phoenix of Arabia

Valhalla

o Louis Nowra’s personal context (read Frankenstein’s Mozart: The Making of Cosi by Gerry

Turcotte and Trial By Madmen by Louis Nowra - pp. ix-xviii in the Currency Press edition of

the play script).

To begin with, view the interactive magazine Cosi: Understanding Context on the Into English website and make your own notes in the space provided below:

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Activities: Act One, Scene One

Glossary

The following words/phrases are listed in the order in which they appear in Act One, scene one. As you read this scene, highlight each of these words/phases and make a note of the meaning.

WORD/PHRASE DEFINITION

Galileo

Nick is referring to The Life of Galileo – a play written by German playwright Bertolt Brecht. The play is about the Italian philosopher Galileo Galilei who suffered persecution at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church for his scientific discoveries. Given that the central conflict is one of conservative versus liberal thought, with the main theme of constancy in the face of oppression, it is not difficult to discern why Nick feels this play to be relevant in a context characterised by an unjust war; whilst simultaneously deeming Cosi Fan Tutte irrelevant.

Tutorial A class at university.

Moratorium

Nick is referring to the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam held in Melbourne in June 1971. This was the third public demonstration calling for the immediate withdrawal of Australian and American troops from Vietnam.

C ward Stands for ‘Closed Ward’ – a ward in the asylum for patients who are considered a danger to themselves and others.

‘Having you on’ An Australian colloquial admission that you have just deliberately exaggerated a story, rendering it untrue – used for comedic effect.

Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin

Roy is referring to ‘Martin and Lewis’ – an American comedy act comprising the singer Dean Martin (the ‘straight’ guy) and the comedian Jerry Lewis (the comedic ‘foil’). The pair were popular in the 1940s.

Sotto Voce Intentionally lowering one’s voice for emphasis; similar to an ‘aside’ in drama, although as it is a deliberate whispering between two characters, it gives use gives the impression of a more personal or confidential aside.

‘Hold your horses’ An Australian colloquial expression meaning ‘wait a minute’.

Lobotomy A medical procedure severing the nerves between the frontal lobes and the rest of the brain. A technique formerly used to treat certain psychiatric disorders.

‘Goes berserk’ To lose control or ‘go crazy’.

Panto Short for ‘pantomime’; a play in which the actors express themselves using gestures, usually to the accompaniment of music.

‘Shacked up with a few shelias’

Doug is using an Australian idiomatic expression meaning ‘living with a few women’.

‘drongo’ A colloquial expression meaning ‘idiot’.

‘Let’s get this show on the road’

Roy is using an Australian idiomatic expression meaning ‘let’s get started’.

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Textual Analysis & Deconstruction

1. Scene one opens with Lewis, Lucy and Nick entering “a burnt out theatre”. Explain the possible symbolic meaning of this “burnt out theatre”, in combination with the contrast of “pitch dark” and “a chink of daylight”.

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2. What is the significance of the literary reference to Bertolt Brecht’s The Life of Galileo?

3. Describe Lucy’s manner of speaking at the beginning of scene one. How has Nowra used language to convey her as a domineering character that bears contempt for what Lewis is doing?

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4. Lewis is established as lacking in confidence and almost helpless in the wake of the task he

has chosen to undertake. Using evidence from this scene, explain how Nowra has achieved

this characterisation.

5. What is the significance of Roy’s reference to Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin?