Review: COSI at Theatre On The Bay is This Year's Production from LAMTA

I'm always excited to see the LAMTA yearly productions - you get a glimpse into who will be hitting the industry in the not-too-distant future. This year's play was COSI, written by Louis Nowra and directed by Chris Weare.

COSI is an Australian play that debuted in Sydney in 1992. It's set in a mental hospital in Melbourne in 1971. The social worker has brought in a young theatre graduate to direct some of the patients in a play as part of their healing process. The play, or rather the opera that is chosen is Mozart's COSI FAN TUTTE. Of course, this is quite the ridiculous ask for such a ragtag crew of "actors" and a young director because none of them can sing and none of them have any clue about staging an opera.

When you enter the theatre, you're welcomed by an impressive set - conceived of by director Chris Weare. The design pulls back the wings and shows the bare bones of the stage. You're in the world of a ramshackle and vandalised theatre that probably should be condemned... but it's on the grounds of the mental hospital, so the team will make it work.

Through the play, the team is beset by challenges and obstacles but they push through and reach their performance. I did enjoy how the play within the play was staged in front of the main curtains, which were used to good effect for funny entrances and exits. However, the pace of the entire play was quite relentless, so by the time we got to this climax, it all felt a bit exhausting. The actors came in with a lot of punch right at the beginning, and there didn't seem to be much time for breathing in between the moments and scenes. I feel like a bit more playing pace and delivery would've brought in more warmth to the characters instead of just going for the laughs.

I also have to bring up the accents. When you're doing a play set in a particular place - Melbourne, Australia in this instance - the accents need to be consistent. Unfortunately, they were not, with many of the actors struggling to hold onto their accents.

COSI from the LAMTA students at Theatre on the Bay was a good romp, but it didn't quite have the heart of Louis Nowra's play.

Photo credit: Claude Barnardo

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