“Powerful drama is as much about visual spectacle as about dialogue.” In what ways does Nowra make powerful use of the visual elements of his play ‘Cosi’?

Nowra uses stage directions to show the proximity of the characters in his play, Così. An example of this would be in page 45 Scene 5 Act 1 when Henry becomes angry towards Nick once he  mentions communists and starts talking about the on going Vietnam War and Australian troops. Nowra uses stage directions to show Henry “[banging his chair on the floor]” which shows a major contrast in comparison to Scene 1 where Henry is unmoving and doesn’t say anything as the stage directions say “Henry enters. He is very quiet and never looks anyone in the eye. His left arm is paralysed and he carries it as if it were in an invisible sling.”. These stage directions show how Henry has broken out of his shell as in Scene 5 he is able to stand, and physically move his arms to bang the chair whereas in Scene 1 it was seen as paralysed as he never moved it which could be a psychological damage from the Vietnam War. This visual element gives an insight into the deeper character of Henry than what was seen throughout the play so far. However, this sudden change from being quiet and reserved to being loud and almost violent is a very shocking change to the audience which makes the effect that more powerful. About 4 lines before this moment, the other characters (Nick, Lewis, Cherry and Roy) are making jokes which makes the audience laugh but out of nowhere, the sudden sound of “Henry, who has become progressively agitated, thumps the piano.” and Henry finally speaking and the “Anger repairs most of his stutter.” makes the audience very surprised and shocked which creates a powerful impact as when laughing, the audience is relaxed but when shocked there is a sudden tension as fear for the characters might creep in. This is successful as that sudden contrast of character is sudden as the visual elements of banging and creating loud noises and even violent movement, an example being when “Henry rushes at him and grab Nick in a bear hug.”. This sudden closeness and close proximity of the characters is very unlike and unusual that from what has been seen before in previous scenes. Dialogue is important but if the stage directions were altered, there would be a very different effect. If the same lines (eg. “Henry: [banging his chair on the floor] Traitors! Traitors! Traitors!” and “Nick: [to Lewis] You’d better get some nurses.”) were with different stage directions (eg. “Henry: [still sitting down] Traitors! Traitors! Traitors!” with the same following line afterwards) would be seen to be almost comedic and humouring Henry but because the sudden movement from sitting to being in a position of power is more shocking and more dramatic than the second version. These visual elements that are conveyed through stage directions by Nowra are very important in creating a powerful impact on the audience and are, in my opinion, successful.