Melbourne Theatre Company, Russell St,until June 4
Playwright: Louis Nowra
Cast: Barry Otto, Nadine Garner, Pamela Rabe, Charles Tingwell, Kim Gyngell, Christen O'Leary.
Plot: Mental hospital patients put on a play.
VERDICT: * * *
WHEN a band of eccentric mental patients decides to perform a Mozart opera, it is a recipe for madcap laughs.
The first half of Louis Nowra's comedy about theatre and insanity is a delight.
The large cast hits its stride early with tough psychotic Doug (Kim Gyngell) telling a wickedly funny story about mischief with cats or shy Ruth's (Pamela Rabe's) hysterically funny rendition of one of Lou Reed's racier numbers.
Roy (Barry Otto) is a quaint fop who puts his extensive acquaintance with shock therapy to good use.
Young Lewis (Christopher Gabardi), this weird bunch's hapless director, does his best to bring his cast under control.
But his best efforts have only minimal effect which, fortunately, serves to rev the play's comic engines still further.
Set in 1971 during the upheaval of the Vietnam war, Cosi touches on issues such as whether society can best be improved through broad political agitation or more personal efforts.
Playwright Nowra may have difficulty sustaining the novelty of his cast's madness in the play's second half.
But although the comic thrust wains notably, Cosi remains a mostly amusing night at the theatre.