And cue Cosi …
Next weekend, Saturday August 20, KCC Theatre will make its long-awaited performance debut at Stratford Courthouse Theatre, performing a production of Louis Nowra’s darkly funny play, Cosi.
Hilarious, heartfelt, chaotic, provoking, mayhem; Cosi promises a performance you won’t want to miss.
KCC Theatre was founded in 2017 by former Sale College English and theatre teacher Richard Kemp and Sale College integration aide Connor Hodges.
Initially, KCC Theatre worked solely in association with Sale College, creating productions with the school’s most talented performing arts students.
In 2022, following Mr Kemp’s transition from Sale College to Gippsland Grammar, KCC Theatre established its independence, an exciting progression and long-term goal for the company.
“Now that I no longer work at Sale College, it provided us with an opportunity to ramp up and do something individual, as we have always planned to,” Mr Kemp said.
“So we sat down and spoke about what are the two shows we want to do over the next 12 to 18 months, and we settled on Cosi as a comedy.”
Kemp and Hodges are among the nine performers within the 14-man company, who are all champing at the bit for opening night for their very first independent show.
And gee whiz, have they got a show for you.
Cosi is set in a Melbourne psychiatric facility in 1971, during the time when the country was protesting against the war in Vietnam.
Cosi is based closely on Nowra’s own life experiences, and features a character called Lewis, a highly-fictionalised version of himself, played by Hodges.
“Lewis is fresh out of university and has got a paid job to produce a show with the patients at this psychiatric facility,” Mr Kemp said.
“He is very nervous, has no idea what to do, the entire situation freaks him out, the Vietnam War is raging, and his friends are going to protest marches in which he is supposed to be involved. Meanwhile, Lewis is stuck with all these mental people inside this institution, trying to rehearse a play.”
Cosi is a multifaceted tragicomedy with a refreshing madcap poignancy taking the audience on a rollercoaster ride up until the final end.
“The patients will put on a performance, a performance of the opera, Cosi Fan Tutte, but that Lewis doesn’t know yet,” Mr Kemp said.
Just like the prospects of psych patients performing a Mozart opera, Cosi will prove a night to remember.
Doors open at 7pm with locally crafted beer, cider and wines served at the Wits End bar.
Tickets are on sale for $25 at http://www.stratfordcourthouse.com.au/#/cosi-jaug20/
For more information about KCC Theatre and their upcoming shows, head to their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/salecollegeschoolproduction
