Cast members of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, starring Jared Nipper as the rebellious Randle P. McMurphy (center)
Ed Huckabee plays Charles Cheswick in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Thomas White plays Dale Harding in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Andrew Cavett as Scanlon in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
From left are Tommy White, Dillon Hartley, Greg Guinn, Jarder Nipper and David Howard. Nipper plays Randle P. McMurphy, a criminal who fakes insanity to get transferred out of jail and into an insane asylum.
Back Alley Productions will perform One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest May 5-21, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. at the Mars Theatre. The theater is at 117 N. Chattanooga St. in LaFayette.
The show will last approximately two hours and 15 minutes with an intermission. Tickets can be purchased online at BAPshows.com or in-person at the box office. Visit BAPshows.com/season-passes.html for information on season passes.
“The story’s social and humanistic commentary is just as relevant and powerful as it was in the 1960s,” said Director Emily Miller. “There’s a wide variety of themes in the show that fit into the exploration of the struggle for and how we use power and freedom. Through the characters, the show examines the fight between the pressure for one to conform to stigmatic labels versus the freedom to empower one’s self as a unique individual. And that’s not exclusive to a decade.”
Review for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is narrated by Chief Bromden, a docile inmate on the insanity ward in a psychiatric hospital that plays representative of everyday society. Enter Randall P. McMurphy, a charismatic free spirit who feigned insanity to escape prison.
On the lifeless ward, McMurphy makes it his priority to “crack” the oppressive head nurse, Nurse Ratched, who rules the ward with an iron fist using manipulation, medication, and electroconvulsive therapy to repress the patients’ dignity and freedom.
McMurphy’s resistance begins to empower the hospital patients to stand up to the big nurse’s authority, but the stakes grow dangerous as McMurphy implements defiant tactics to break the tyrannical Nurse Ratched.
“Cuckoo is a rare story that prompts audiences to ask questions regarding the flaws and strengths of society at large and of themselves as individuals,” Ms. Miller added. “It breaks barriers. It kills stigma surrounding the discussion of individual freedom, authoritative power, and the definition of insanity. This production is as powerful and raw as it is laugh-out-loud funny, and the Mars Theater black box is the perfect space for this type of show. It adds a new, intimate element that sets the play apart from the novel and film.”
Audiences are advised that the show contains strong language and mature content, and is not encouraged for minors.