About the Play:

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a full-length drama adapted for the stage by Dale Wasserman based on the extraordinary counter culture novel by Ken Kesey. Randle P. McMurphy has always lived by his own rules. When he cons his way into a mental institution in order to escape prison life, he comes head to head with the ultimate authority – the soft-spoken and tyrannical Nurse Ratched. What follows is a no-holds-barred battle for freedom against total control in this stage adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is both funny and heartbreaking as we witness the absurdities and horrors facing a disparate group of men in a psychiatric ward in 1960s America. Randle Patrick McMurphy is a larger-than-life, fun-loving, charismatic rogue who opts to serve his short sentence for "repeated outbreaks of passion that suggest the possible diagnosis of psychopath," at the Oregon State Mental Institution instead of prison because he believes it will be an easier time. It only takes a couple of hours on Nurse Ratched's ward for McMurphy to realize his mistake. Dale Wasserman's adaptation of Ken Kesey's classic American novel tells the story of institutional madness, where the mentally insane are drugged, electrocuted and lobotomised in order to enforce a chilling notion of sanity, one where obedience and conformity are the only acceptable indications of mental health. McMurphy riles up seven complacent patients who once were unable to cope with the overwhelming pressures of the modern world but now are inspired to rebel against the strict rules of the hospital. He leads them out of introversion, stages a revolt so that they can see the world series on television, and arranges a rollicking midnight party with liquor and chippies. Narrated by the longtime, presumed deaf and dumb, Native American inmate, Chief Bromden, the audience is drawn into this tragicomic allegory for the consequences of questioning authority as they revel in the antics and anguish of one of contemporary literature’s favourite anti-heroes. Heroic, hilarious and ultimately shocking, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is an unforgettable story that exposes the boundaries between causing harm and creating hope.

Before it was an Oscar-winning movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was a great book and a great play. Dale Wasserman's stage version opened in 1963 at Cort Theatre on Broadway in New York City and predates the film by 12 years. An off-Broadway revival in 1971 ran for over 2,000 performances and prompted the Oscar-winning film version in 1975 starring Jack Nicholson. Since then the play has been produced widely at professional theatres and has been mounted by middle schools, high schools, colleges, and community theatres.

Cast: 3 female, 8 male

What people say:

"Cuckoo is captivating." — New York Post

"Scarifying and powerful." — New York Times

"Funny, touching, and exciting." — New York Daily News

"Brilliant. The stuff of great theatre." — WQR Radio

"Transforms the audience into one wild cheering section." — WNYC Radio

"One of the finest, most meaningful and most moving play of recent times." — WPIX TV

About the Playwright:

Ken Elton Kesey (1935-2001) was an American writer who gained world fame with his first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. In the 1960s, he became a counterculture hero credited with transforming the beat generation into the hippie movement.

Dale Wasserman (1914-2008) was an American writer. He wrote for theatre, television and film for more than 50 years and is best known for the musical Man of La Mancha, a multiple Tony Award winner. He also wrote the stage play One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, based on Ken Kesey's novel, which has won several Tony Awards. Both shows continue to be produced nationally and internationally with an estimated 300 productions a year.