One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (2002)

13th September

	From the Editor's Desk Shirley Valentine Show From the Editor's Desk AUDITIONS: Aladdin and the Standard Lamp AUDITIONS: Allo' Allo'

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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (2002)

Directed By
Colin Swift

Producer
Claire Derriman

Production Type
Nomads Production

Production Location
Main Theatre

Genre: Drama / Comedy

Turnout: 85%

User Rating: (4.5/5 with 4 votes)

Flier Summary:



	One of the most powerful stories ever written, immortalised on the Silver Scrren with Jack Nicholson. The play is the story of a rogue who commits himself temporarily to a mental institution rather than work in prison. He transforms the home, charming everyone, except the fierce martinet of a head nurse, and works wonders with a presumed deaf and dumb Indian.

Description:



	Like most people, I came to this play via the sensational Milos Foreman film, starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher. The film is undoubtedly amoungst the finest ever made, and watching it again is always a delight. The original novel, written ... [more]

Production Dates & Prices: (Please note Booking Information)



Date	Time	Price
Tuesday 22nd October 2002	8:00pm	£7.00
Wednesday 23rd October 2002	8:00pm	£7.00
Thursday 24th October 2002	8:00pm	£8.00
Friday 25th October 2002	8:00pm	£8.00
Saturday 26th October 2002	8:00pm	£8.00

Cast: (in programme order)



Colin Swift	... Chief Bromden
Glenn Reynolds	... Aide Warren
Tristan Carter	... Aide Williams
Hilary Swift	... Nurse Ratched
Kate Raye	... Nurse Flinn
Tim Spencer	... Dale Harding
Edd Mott	... Billy Bibbit
John Norris	... Scanlon
Wally Ross Gower	... Cheswick
Phillip Griffith	... Martini
Colin Clyde	... Ruckly
Damien de Roche	... Randel P. McMurphy
Clive Mott	... Dr. Spivey
Bernadette O'Sullivan	... Candy Starr
Stan Crattier	... Aide Turkle
Nikki Tidy	... Sandra

Crew: (in programme order)



Colin Swift	... Director
Claire Derriman	... Stage Manager
Claire Derriman	... Producer
Brandon McGuire	... Set Design
Gordon Hilliker	... Set Construction
Tom Thomas	... Set Construction
David Payne	... Set Construction
Roger Brandon-Jones	... Set Construction
Sarah Thomas	... Set Construction
Charles Hope	... Set Construction
Brandon McGuire	... Set Construction
Tim Williams	... Sound Operator
Charles Hope	... Lighting Designer
Jane Martin	... Lighting Operator
Helen Longes	... Properties
Hilary Swift	... Costume Design
Phillip Griffith	... Poster Design
Phillip Griffith	... Programme Design
Phillip Griffith	... Photography
Francis Pindar	... Front of House Manager
Susan Pindar	... Front of House

Act1:



Scene 1	The Day Room in a ward of a State Mental Hospital somewhere in North America

Act2:



Scene 1	The Day Room in a ward of a State Mental Hospital somewhere in North America

Official Review:

the review

All is calm at the Mental Hospital. The nurses are efficient, the aides contemptuous of the patients, group therapy is the order of the day. Suddenly enter a roaring boy, transferred from the State Penitentiary who is palpably not mad and who has worked his passage for an easy ride and to fleece the inmates at cards. He decides to wage war against the senior nurse, encourages the inmates to rebel and 'party' and quickly works his spell over minds much frailer than his. Will he triumph over Nurse Ratched?

For much of the play you run with McMurphy. The Hospital regime is repressive and, given the treatments of that time, 1960, positively brutal. The patients are controlled by a dependence culture, also subtle reminders of their life outside, 'What would mother say? There is also the presence of shock therapies and surgery. That is how it was in those days.

McMurphy's waywardness tips the balance, an inmate fevered by 'partying' slashes his own throat, McMurphy having already been given electric shock treatment is lobotomised. He is then mercy killed by the most extreme patient, a Red Indian who has feigned muteness and who becomes the one success story and escapes to return to his reservation. Except this is a psychic victory as he surely will be captured and returned within hours.

This is a play of extremes and an irony. The Hospital's treatments are extreme as is McMurphy's swaggering, shouting and self-absorbed insolence. The irony is that a little of McMurphy would have worked wonders for the patients and probably have been acceptable to the Hospital.

Colin Swift's beautifully choreographed direction presented the inmates as a querulous Greek Chorus, suggesting the tragedy ahead. Fine ensemble acting by all in a variety of mental conditions. Tim Spencer was convincing as their sane but unsure, subtle and persuasive leader, Dale Harding. Cohn Clyde gave a superb performance as the catatonic Ruckly. Billy Bibbit is arguably the most pitiable character in the play and Edd Mott gave a well-judged and emotional performance of this stuttering, self hunting paranoid. The Hospital staff gave full support with Hillary Swift's Nurse Ratched, logically well intentioned but with a heart of ice, every bit a match for Damien de Roche's McMurphy, a bravura performance giving us an amoral, deceitful but kindly ruffian whose developing relationship with the Red Indian (sensitively played by Colin Swift) becomes touching and redemptive.

Related News:


Nov 2002	Successful Charity Night For MENCAP
Nov 2002	Cuckoo words Competition Results
Oct 2002	Competition
Oct 2002	Charity Gala Night
Sep 2002	Cast for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Recommendations:


One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest [1975]
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (script)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest [1975]

User Reviews:

A great show!

10th December 2002
Reviewer: Francis Pindar

You just couldn't fault the cast! an amazing show. I even heard one person say "This is the best show I have ever seen the Nomads do!".

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