In the semi-autobiographical play ‘Così’, Louis Nowra depicts the experiences of a novice director, Lewis, putting on a play with several intriguing characters from a mental asylum in the 1970’s. Nowra skillfully uses visual elements such as stage directions, blocking and set elements in his play to perceptively show the development of characters and their relationships by creating purposeful moments of tension, conflict and contrast. 

Nowra uses the visual elements of the play to create moments of suspense and impactfully show changes in character. This use of visual elements to augment revealing moments can be seen in Act One of the play when Henry, normally seen as the silent and submissive ‘stooge’, “thumps the piano”, “bangs the chair” and “grabs” one of the characters, Nick, in “a bear hug” after being agitated with his political ideas that, if supported, imply that Henry’s father’s contribution in the war was futile. The use of set props like the ‘piano’ and ‘chair’ and the visual impact of this conflict helps to dramatise the massive difference in Henry, who’s aggression is particularly shocking to the audience who sees the typically servile and subdued character act violently to a stranger. This is a powerful use of visual devices as this moment complicates the audiences understanding of Henry – On the one hand, he finally shows human motivation and emotion, but on the other hand, he shows a possibly irrational and angry temperament. 

Similarly, Nowra enlists visual elements to illustrate the development of character relationships through moments of tension. The significance of visual elements is seen at the end of Act One when Henry tries to leave the group by “walking around Lewis”, but “Lewis pushes Henry back” and allows himself to be almost hit by Henry’s “raised fists” to just prevent Henry from leaving. Here, blocking and stage directions play an important role in portraying how Lewis, who has often been overwhelmed and confused, finally takes charge of his play and commits to keeping the group together by putting himself in a position of danger for the sake of the play. Nowra also uses this moment to show the audience that Lewis, unlike many people, does not think Henry’s violence is a result of his mentally disability as he allows himself to be in a position of inferiority to Henry, which implies that the group ironically has a newfounded connection in this contrasting moment of conflict as a result of Lewis’s underlying nonjudgement towards the mentally disabled and drive to keep them together.

Additionally, Nowra subtly uses visual cues and directions to give the audience more implicit insights into the mannerisms and lives of the characters, often through incongruence. The sympathies of the audience can be swayed by these insights, for example when Julie, a drug addict, ‘laughs’ whilst talking about how her parents ‘had her committed’ and how the walls of the asylum give her the ‘heebie jeebies’. ‘Laughing’ in this situation is at odds with the quite saddening details of her speech, but it evokes sympathy within the audience as they understand her condition and see her more as a human rather than a label like ‘addict’, which is a powerful moment of realisation and understanding within the audience that also aligns with Nowra’s intent to destigmatize mental illness.

To conclude, Nowra’s use of visual cues in Così significantly influences the perception of the characters and the development of relationships in the play, driving the plot forward by creating deep insights through both nuanced and dramatic moments within scenes. Furthermore, the purposeful use of visual cues can expand the views the audience and general public possess about people with mental disorders and can bring to attention and critique common tropes of mental disorder that existed in the 1970’s.

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Other thoughtful responses from my classmates:

Dhrithika: “Furthermore, Nowra’s powerful use of visual incongruence allows the audience to recognise that there are similarities between them and those in mental asylums, once they see past the discrete labels causing the predominant division between the both of them.” – I found this a nice topic statement that describes impactful ideas clearly.

Gianina: “In the blocking of this scene, Nowra meddles with the thin line between reinforcing stereotypes surrounding the violent nature of mental disorders, as opposed to expressing their feelings the only way they can. By first presenting Henry to have acted out almost violently, Nowra acknowledges the possibility of violence in mental illnesses. However, by presenting Henry to “pause and then [drop] his arm” when he was about to hit Lewis and depicting Henry to not have hit Lewis, Nowra counters this stereotype and conveys that the mentally ill are capable of self restraint and that they may not actually intend to harm anyone. Hence, Nowra exposes the other facets of the one-sided stereotype of the mentally ill: They are not impulsively violent, they are actually capable of self control and like any normal human being, they can be very emotional if others hit a little too close to home.” – A very important distinction to be thought about when understanding Nowra’s authorial intent.

Chloe: Nowra’s choice in the details of the set design illustrate the society’s attitude towards the mentally ill. The physical setting of the play shows a burnt theatre with a dismal hole in the roof and some problems with the wiring. These physical defects of the theatre represent the society’s attitude towards the mentally ill; that they are neglected and marginalised. The physical setting of the play also represents a different world that Lewis has to enter: the world that will test and change Lewis. In the opening scene, the theatre is “pitch black inside” while it is still daytime outside. A striking visual contrast between the brightness and the darkness suggests the disconnection of the asylum from the outside world as well as the stark difference between the asylum and the rest of the world. Disconnection of the asylum from the world implies that it is possible to have mentally ill people living among us, unseen. It makes the audience question whether they, too, are like those people in the play who are blind to the vulnerable groups in society. – An interesting point I had not noticed before