Cosi

It is Lewis’ transformation that is the focus of the drama.

At the beginning of Cosi, Lewis is shy, unsure and not at all confident in himself, and for a main character this is extremely unusual and proves to be very enticing for the audience. But his transformation into a confident leader for the patients isn’t the main focus of the play. The aspects of love and fidelity, Roy’s captivating enthusiasm, and the treatment and views of the mentally ill are also key focus points in the play.

Lewis shows the audience from the moment they meet him that he lacks confidence and is a very passive and shy character. His first line, ‘don’t know’, followed closely by ‘I thought you were going to help me?’, indicates to the audience how uncertain he is not only to be working in the asylum, but also within himself.   Roy immediately picked up on this and too charge. He had such a strong passion towards the opera, Cosi Fan Tutte and rarely showed compassion towards the other patients, and especially Lewis, which initially proved very confronting and frightening for him. On instance of this is when Nick comes to help Lewis and even though Nick hasn’t done much, receives praise from Roy, ‘Finally a director!’ and, ‘Brilliant! …. Are you listening Jerry?’. Not only by Roy taking charge, but also Doug lighting the fires and Cherry force feeding him, we can see the struggle Lewis is having.
Although, Lewis’ major turn point is when Nick upsets Henry. Lewis is forced to either support Henry, or risk losing one of his actors. And not only does Lewis support Henry, but he also physically stands up to Henry, showing for the first time his strength and leadership in order to convince Henry to stay.
Lewis then follows through with this slight character development when he chooses the Opera and the patients over Lucy and Nick’s moratorium meeting. This is very significant and gives his character a twist for the audience in that not only is he standing up for himself and showing...