One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest review – Aaron Pierre makes a mesmerising McMurphy
Old Vic theatre, LondonDirector Clint Dyer brings a fresh political focus to Ken Kesey’s story of disempowerment but the relentless misogyny of the text feels retrogradeWhen Randle P McMurphy is...
By David Jays · The Guardian Culture
Old Vic theatre, London Director Clint Dyer brings a fresh political focus to Ken Kesey’s story of disempowerment but the relentless misogyny of the text feels retrograde When Randle P McMurphy is thrust into an American psychiatric hospital in the early 1960s, the torpid air begins to crackle. As the anarchic McMurphy, Aaron Pierre gives a storming performance but although Clint Dyer’s stirring take on Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel boldly reframes the story, the text can’t support his ideas. McMurphy immediately locks horns with authoritarian Nurse Ratched (Olivia Williams). He pivots and provokes, urging fellow patients to resist, play and party. Pierre roams the space with a pumped-up strut or an incongruous dainty scamper. He gives good fraternal hugs, but there’s a frantic vulnerability beneath the booming laugh. Continue reading...