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:

20 October 2011

AMAZINGLY, it’s almost 50 years since Ken Kesey’s groundbreaking novel was first published, and almost as long since Dale Wasserman’s stage adaptation. Between them and the 1975 film version (starring Jack Nicholson), they changed the way electroconvulsive therapy was viewed and challenged the psychiatric orthodoxy of the time.

As classics of their type – particularly Nicholson’s Oscar-winning turn as the insanity-faking petty criminal Randle P McMurphy – they serve as interesting period pieces. But do they stand the test of time?

In Michael Buffong’s straightforward, down-the-line production for Curve, the play seems uncomplicated, rather dated and a little preachy. The distinctions between the docile, sparkless inmates of the psychiatric ward and the disciplinarian, clinical coldness of the staff are drawn in stark black and white, offering an un-nuanced metaphor for American society and its treatment of outsiders and rebels.

The harshness of the polarisation is reflec...

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