Terms and meanings Cosi – Louis Nowra
Cosi fan tutte Cannot be directly translated but has a number of accepted interpretations Women behave that way School for lovers Women are like that
Bourgeois romanticism a delusion of middle class people, idle wishful thinking, or an empty meaningless convention of the middle class. Romanticism that belongs to a person whose political, economic, and social opinions are believed to be determined mainly by concern for property values and conventional respectability. Romaniticism - of, pertaining to, or of the nature of romance; characteristic or suggestive of the world of romance: a romantic adventure. fanciful; impractical; unrealistic: romantic ideas. imbued with or dominated by idealism, a desire for adventure, chivalry, etc. characterized by a preoccupation with love or by the idealizing of love or one's beloved. displaying or expressing love or strong affection. ardent; passionate; fervent.
Lucy suggests Anything to do with love such as a play about love is common, trendy, unrealistic, fanciful etc as opposed to the real, significant and important issues of her life such as protesting about the Vietnam War.
Metatheatre theatre that comments on itself. Or theatre that is additional to theatre (Play within the play)
Farce in a play it is broad humour based on exaggerations such as clowning, coincidences, and improbabilities. There is farce in the basic plot – mentally ill patients performing an opera they cannot sing, or understand the language of with an inexperienced director
Ideology the body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc., that guides an individual, social movement, institution, class, or large group.
Intertextuality the content of a text, such as plot, language, or other reference, has its origin or stimulus in another text – ie the intertextuality of Cosi and Cosi fan Tutte
Joie de vive the joy of life
Vicissitudes changes or variations or alternating phases that occur in the natural order of things. Vicissitudes of life - successive, alternating, or changing phases or conditions, as of life or fortune; ups and downs: They remained friends through the vicissitudes of 40 years.
Projection psychological – tendency to attribute to another person the ideas, feelings, or sentiments that are actually in oneself. Which character does this?
Poignant - keenly distressing to the feelings: poignant regret. The poignancy of Julie’s death highlights for audiences that recovery from mental illness and addiction is not easy. keen or strong in mental appeal: a subject of poignant interest. - The play holds poignant interest for audiences. affecting or moving the emotions: a poignant scene. The play’s ending is poignant
Irony a technique of indicating, as through character or plot development, an intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly stated. Irony exists in the parallels between lewis’ love life ‘off stage’ and his love life ‘on stage’. On stage the infidelity is treated light heartedly – in ‘character’ of Fiordiligi and Ferrando, it is a trick, and the emotional turmoil is portrayed as comedy. In the blurred lines of Cosi, Julie returns to her true lover just as in Cosi fan tutte. Off stage – Lewis is devastated by Lucy’s infidelity. He is moving out of the house, the relationship is over.
A beat This is a feature of expressionism – (a style of playwriting and stage presentation stressing the emotional content of a play, the subjective reactions of the characters, symbolic or abstract representations of reality, and non naturalistic techniques of scenic design.) It emphasises the emotional reactions - it intends to underline a key emotional moment – a moment of perception, or awarenss