What is Madness?
The play picks up the theme of the line between sanity and insanity as being something of a matter of perspective. Justin, the play’s social worker who represents the prevailing societal approach toward treating the mentally disturbed, has a much more glib definition:
“whenever this place gets too much for me, I always think of this definition – a madman is someone who arrives at a fancy dress partly dress in the Emperor’s new clothes.”
What is Love?
This is a burning question raised throughout the play and commented upon by almost every character.
“Love is what you feel when you don’t have enough emotion left to hate.”
“That’s what love is, being foolish.”
“Love is hallucinating without drugs.”
“Love is an emotional indulgence for a privileged few.”
“Love is the last gasp of bourgeois romanticism.”
Cosi Fan Tutte
As the title indicates, there is a strong connection between the play and its play-within-a-play, the Mozart opera Cosi Fan Tutte. The connection is made by the riffing on an actual metaphor sung in the opera as it applies to the play’s theme of romantic fidelity:
“Women's constancy is like the phoenix of Arabia. Everyone swears it exists but no one has seen it.‟
Societal Views
Another important theme running through the play is how society looks at and treats the issue of mental illness. Julie’s parents frame it as a sort of example of denial mixed with wish-fulfillment:
“My parents had me committed. They think it’s sort of like a holiday.”
Roy’s Enthusiasm
It is Roy’s enthusiasm which finally stimulates Lewis to really take up his charge. Roy’s metaphorical situating of the significance of Mozart’s opera is not just an expression of enthusiasm, however, it also subtly comments upon the value of art in the lives of everyday people and touches upon the concept of how society has treated the mentally ill over the centuries and finally ends with the suggestion that without art, everyone would go mad.
“Without this opera having been composed, there would be just a clanging, banging, a bedlam all around us.‟
