The Centenary Theatre Group presents Cosi by Louis Nowra

Chelmer Community Theatre

6th-28th Sept 2025 

Dr Gemma Regan

Cosi is a well-performed crazy funny-farm farce

Julie Collins made a bold choice with her directorial debut for the CTG presenting Louis Nowra’s semi-autobiographical dark and absurdist comedy Cosi, where patients from a mental asylum attempt to perform Mozart’s Cosi fanTutti. Collins first performed the salacious role of Cherry in 2001 whilst living in Germany and so was inspired to have “another crack” at the crazy comedy.

Cosi is a backstage farce similar to Michael Frayne’s Noises Off, performed last year by the CTG, highlighting the comical tribulations of the naive director Lewis (Tyson Hargreaves), who is thrust into the role as fresh meat with little experience. The mostly absent social worker Justine (Alizah Pommery), abandons Lewis with seven asylum patients to fulfil the livelong dream of an aggressively enthusiastic Roy, played brilliantly by Gary Kliger, to perform Cosi fan Tutti on stage in Italian! 

First performed at the Belvoir, Sydney in 1992, Nowra’s play set in 1971 at the height of the Australian Vietnam moratoriums, reflects the social climate of the 90’s with the onset of being “pc” now morphed into the woke times of today. Lewis is the only neutral character amongst a dichotomy of opinions and a plethora of characters. His girlfriend Lucy, played by Dana Stolpin in her CTG debut, and friend Nick (Daniel Stanton) are Brechtian radicals and describe love as “an emotional indulgence for the privileged few” whilst also having a bit on the side.

Meanwhile the lunatics seem more sane in their opinions of the Australian involvement in Vietnam with the vulnerable softly spoken Henry, played delightfully by Trevor Bond, wearing his father’s medals with pride. 

Each character is OTT and a juxtaposition of another, all are too much for Lewis to handle alone. There’s a bolshy pyromaniac Doug (Justin Ryan), the comatose musician Zac, also played by Stanton. Emily Strauss is debuting with a splendid interpretation of the vulnerable autistic Ruth whose pedantry for specificities annoys everyone. 

Josie Yarham’s Cherry is a brilliant over-friendly treasure with an unending capacity for love and violence whose crush on Lewis causes friction with the young junkie Julie (Dana Stolpin) who also has her eyes on the prize. The elderly exuberant bi-polar Roy fantasises on the music of the spheres and seeing the production through, despite the terrible direction from Lewis, becoming nasty and vindictive when he doesn’t get his own way. 

As the play unfolds the uncomfortable sources of each character’s mental health is revealed causing many poignant moments and even sometimes guilt at laughing at each character’s flaws. This fine balance was executed well by the cast and Collins’ direction.

With only a very simple dark set of the burned inside of a theatre, the audience is solely focussed on the actors who are bold and confronting. Yarham’s Cherry was superb, obviously helped by Collins’ own insight in having played the role. Her wild bright outfits and boundless energy breathed life into some of the more stagnant scenes. Likewise, both Kliger, Ryan and Stanton were exuberant in their extroverted roles.

In the now tedious times of cancel culture and wokefests, it was a relief to be allowed to laugh with, rather than at each caricature, highlighting the dramatic see-saw of life whilst pondering how liminal the limits on extreme ‘mental’ behaviours can be, aren’t we all a little crazy?

The CTG, although and amateur group are not focused solely on light entertainment, often choosing more confronting plays to highlight social issues. Cosi, although almost as long as Mozart’s opera, brings humour to the funny farm and Collins has skilfully crafted the local talent into an entertaining and thought-provoking show.