13/05/2024
** AUDITIONS - Get you AUDITION details for COSI - one of Australia's most successful plays.
Email: [email protected]
ABOUT THE PLAY
It’s art, it’s total mayhem, it’s shocking, it can be strong in its language, it’s a wonderful roller coaster all the way to opening night. A heartfelt (dark) comedy which is inspiring to witness; that despite their individual psychiatric illnesses, theatre gave them a purpose; resulting in joyful comradery.
Set in a Melbourne psychiatric facility, Così is a play about friendship, romance, infidelity and difference. It’s 1971 and Australia is protesting the war in Vietnam. But inside the asylum, the inmates are listening to Mozart, learning their lines and occasionally skipping their medication.
With a group of only six patients to work with (few of whom can sing OR speak Italian), one musician (when he’s not passed out on the piano), a distinct lack of a translated libretto, and literally no directing experience, Lewis somehow manages to wrangle this rather motley ensemble into a cast which successfully presents Cosi Fan Tutte to the world – well, a version of it anyway!
COSI has become one of the most successful Australian plays produced. A terrific comedic play about madness, illusion, sanity… and theatre.
Characters (description & stage ages)
Lewis (Male, 20s)
Lewis is a university graduate who, although he may not realise it, is stuck between being told who he needs to be and who he might want to be. Desperate for money, he takes on the job of directing a show in a mental institution. During the time he spends with the patients however, Lewis experiences a turning point in his understanding and perception of people.
Roy (Male, 40s-60s)
Roy, a patient, is a manic depressive with a passion for theatre, a love of music who insists on performing Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte even though none of the other patients can sing Opera or speak Italian. Believing that Lewis is a poor director, Roy takes charge assigning patients to characters in the play. He is extremely blunt in expressing his opinions of others. Roy has a huge emotional range in the play.
Lucy / Julie (Female, 20s) (Note: this can be a double role as Lucy is a small role.)
Lucy: Girlfriend and roommate of Lewis. She has an affair with Nick who shares similar beliefs – that the Vietnam War protest is more important than anything else. Lucy cannot understand why Lewis is directing a play about love when thousands are dying in the war.
Julie: A patient addicted to illicit drugs. She is Lewis’s love interest in the play and is a catalyst for Lewis and Lucy’s deteriorating relationship. She believes that men have double standards, since females are routinely targeted for their infidelity while men are also unfaithful to their partners.
Justin / Nick (Male, 20s) (Note: this is a double role as they do not overlap)
Nick: An experienced student director, roommate and friend of Lewis. He promises to help Lewis with Così Fan Tutte however, he quickly breaks this vow in order to spend time with Lucy. Lewis later discovers that Lucy and Nick are having an affair. Nick is heavily involved in the moratorium, a protest against the Vietnam War.
Justin: A social worker who organised the patients from the mental institution to be a part of the theatre project. Patronising towards the patients, he represents society’s view on the mentally ill.
Doug (Male, 20s-30s)
A patient who was sent to the mental institution as a result of burning his mother’s cats and home. He is a pyromaniac – someone who gains satisfaction from deliberately starting fires. He appears to light fires quite frequently, once in the theatre toilets and once outside the theatre. He also supports free love and is keen on the potential violence that may transpire at the moratorium.
Cherry (Female, 30+)
Cherry is somewhere between 35 and 70 – it’s a bit hard to tell as she still thinks she’s 16! Cherry has been in institutions for some time and is a key character that serves to highlight the play’s secondary story line of feminism and the changing expectations of women in the 1970s, especially in regard to loving and being loved. Cherry has a crush on Lewis and a bad jealous streak. A classic role for an character actor with comedic timing.
Ruth (Female, 40+)
A patient suffering from an obsessive disorder. Throughout the play, she focuses on minor issues such as having real or fake coffee on set, and the number of steps she needs to take to reach her position on stage. Ruth struggles to marry her obsessive-compulsive disorder with the concept of reality versus illusion in the world of theatre.
Henry (Male, 40s-50s) (Note: this role has relatively few lines)
A shy patient, a damaged soul, who rarely speaks and avoids eye contact with others. A former lawyer, he now suffers from a disability with his left arm. However, it is shown to be a false disability when he switches his ‘bad arm’ from left to right. He is subservient to others, especially Roy. Towards the end of the play however, he overcomes his timidity to defend Lewis. Note: Henry has a bad stutter.
Zac: (Male, 20s-30s) A patient who takes the part of musician for Così Fan Tutte. He prefers to play Wagner over Mozart, which sparks a dispute between himself and Roy. Zac is passionate about music and plays the piano and the piano accordion (it is not required that the actor can actually play these but it would be a bonus if the actor was a pianist).
