One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Synopsis

Chief Bromden, half American-Indian, whom the authorities believe is deaf and dumb, tells the story of a mental institution ruled by Big Nurse on behalf of the all-powerful Combine. Into the terrifying grey world comes McMurphy, a brawling gambling man, who wages total war on behalf of his cowed fellow inmates. What follows is at once hilarious and heroic, tragic and ultimately liberating. Ken Kesey's first novel was published in 1962 and was adapted for the state in 1963 by Dale Wasserman. It was produced successfully on Broadway starring Kirk Douglas and subsequently became an Oscar winning film directed by Milos Forman, starring Jack Nicholson.

Our Review:

29 March 2006

When Dale Wasserman’s adaptation of Ken Kesey’s mental asylum novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was last brought to the British stage two-and-a-half years ago, it seemed that lunatics weren’t so much running the asylum as threatening to take the show’s producer Nica Burns down with them: everything that could go wrong did, from the early departure of the original director to its star, Christian Slater, coming down with the chickenpox just days before its Edinburgh Fringe try-out.

But Slater recovered and the show went on to become that rare thing, a substantial and popular West End success that was particularly adept at attracting a younger generation of theatregoers through the doors. Now, wearing her new hat as West End theatre owner with Max Weitzenhoffer, Burns has brought it back to town to the Garrick, one of the four theatres in the Nimax stable, and even if it might seem a little soon to be seeing it again, it deserves to have a further life...

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Latest User Review

195.82.123.181) - 29 April 2006:

This riveting play is even better second time around. I was much more shocked, disturbed and upset than I remember being before: partly this is due to a more intimate venue, and also to Alex Kingston's terrific Nurse Ratched......much as I love Frances Barber, this is a more subtle, slow-burning adn ultimately frightening account of the role. Opposite her, Christian Slater's Randle is even more satisfying than before. Far from simply channelling Jack Nicholson, Slater makes the role his own, expressing all of the character's warmth, outrage and disturbance. He's also the sexiest man currently on the West End stage......which makes him all the more watchable!! In a superb supporting cast, Ian Coppinger, Alex Giannini, Brendan Dempsey and Owen O'Neillall make strong impression. I missed Mackenzie Crook's quirkiness as the doomed Billy but Paul Ready is excellent in the role. All in all, very highly recommended....

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