By Natalie Bradbury
Tragedy met comedy in a mental institution last night, in the stage version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest loved by critics and public alike. The cast of oddballs deemed unable to fit into society told their stories in front of the ominously convincing, sterile looking minimal stage set that set the mood for the whole play.
The transatlantic production brought together stars from both America where the play is set and English stars such as Mackenzie Crook. Christian Slater played the hero Patrick Randall McMurphy, a newcomer and the protagonist whose motives we were asked to question throughout the play, from his arrival in the institution to escape work farm toil and gambling the other patients out of hundreds of pounds to the invasion of the hospital by prostitutes.
The characters were not what they seemed: all had their way of manipulating the system. Frances Barber played a seductive yet cruel Miss Ratched (conveniently adapted by Mc Murphy to 'Miss Rat - Shit'), highlighting the injustice of treatment in such places and punishments such as lobotomies done in pretence of helping the patient.
Waving from the terrifying despair of a humongous, supposedly deaf and dumb Indian chief's electro shock induced nighttime reminisces to joyful moments when it seemed Nurse Ratched's regime really could be overcome by rebellious basketball matches and clandestine late night parties, Mc Murphy ultimately united the inmates in a tale of cooperating to overcome your limitations, from being wheelchair bound to being a stutterer.
Staying true to Ken Kesey's early 1960s cult novel before the author himself became involved in LSD trials which led him to become an outlaw and fugitive, the play serves equally well for those studying mental illness and society's treatment of it, as a clarion call for those wanting to challenge and overthrow the system and as a good night out for those who just want to watch a poignant, unorthodox comedy.