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Old Vic Theatre

Dale Wasserman’s stage adaptation of Ken Kesey’s book is not the same as the film, a fact noted by the critcs. The book has its faults- primarily in its misogyny and its old fashioned view of mental illness, as some reviews made very clear. Its concept of a psychiatric institution as a metaphor for an authoritarian society dealing with dissidents is given a new perspective in Clint Dyer’s production by making all the patients black and the people in charge white. This worked for some critics, but not others  For many reviewers, the cast were the saviours of the show. There were numerous name checks but special mention went to Aaron Pierre as the rebellious McMurphy, Giles Terera as inmate Dale Harding and Olivia Williams as Nurse Rached.

5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

Maygan Forbes for WhatsOnStage loved it: ‘Clint Dyer’s direction is razor sharp, finding rhythm in both chaos and control. The ward is rendered with astonishing precision; Ben Stones’ set transforms the Old Vic into a claustrophobic, watchful institution that feels less like a stage and more like a system closing in. You forget where you are (…) Bold, precise and deeply affecting, it grips from first beat to final silence, powered by a company firing on every level.‘

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

The Times’ Clive Davis found Pierre: ‘utterly persuasive. Every manic gesture, every small act of bravado, is the mark of a character who exists on the margins.’ He commented: ‘If the in-the-round staging — a fixture in Matthew Warchus’s final season as the Old Vic’s artistic director — means that some of the dialogue goes astray, it draws us into the heart of the skirmishes between staff and patients. At times, we became the kind of voyeurs who once saw the mentally ill as entertainment. This play may be uncomfortable viewing at times, yet it’s exhilarating, too.’

Olivia Rook at LondonTheatre decided: ‘Dyer’s vision is felt most keenly in the production’s opening and closing scenes, which are full of the rich sights and sounds of Mardi Gras Indian parades, as the ensemble cast enter beating drums and singing, washed in Chris Davey’s murky amber light. He has also assembled an impressive, predominantly Black cast as Ratched’s patients to foreground the novel’s colonial implications — and it is their palpable chemistry that is the production’s biggest success.’

Referring to the ‘unimprovable’ movie, Gary Naylor for BroadwayWorld observed: ‘any production has to sway out of the way of those biggest of hitters and turn their force into a means to tell the same story but in a new environment, a new context for our times.’ He assured us: ‘A framing device and a casting decision does that.’

The Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish had reservations: ‘We could do with a greater sense of the risk of that gamble, a stronger feeling of period and indeed more live-wire volatility all round.’ But he concluded: ‘The added racial charge aside, this fittingly intense, non-conformist production delivers a chilling reminder of the perennial cost of dissent.’

3 stars ★★★

Having said this stage adaptation of Ken Kesey’s novel is ‘cruder and more explicatory than the movie’, The Stage’s Sam Marlowe went on: ‘Its portrayal of mental illness is uncomfortably outdated and there’s a troubling seam of misogyny running through it.’

David Jays for The Guardian found: ‘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.’ He explained: ‘By casting Cuckoo’s Nest’s inmates with predominantly Black actors, Dyer gives Kesey’s tale a new political edge, as pawns in a system designed to disempower (…) What is explicit in both the original novel and this 1963 adaptation by Dale Wasserman is a relentless misogyny – so this reading feels at once radical and retrograde.’

Time Out‘s Andrzej Lukowski was critical of the interpretation:  He also felt  Pierre was ‘somewhat miscast’, saying ‘it’s too light a performance’.

The Standard’s Nick Curtis pointed out: ‘Since the forces of (white) authority are primarily vested in Olivia Williams’s autocratic, manipulative and sour Nurse Ratched, a nasty spine of misogyny runs through the story. Williams stepped into the production late, after Michelle Gomez withdrew, though you wouldn’t know it from her focused, resolutely unsympathetic performance.’

2 stars ★★

The Independent’s Alice Saville was scathing: ‘Taken simply as a comedy, this play works fantastically well, delivering laugh after well-paced, guilty laugh to an audience that knows they probably shouldn’t be finding this stuff quite so funny. But this story was written with more rebellious intent. It aimed to liberate, not to reinforce the values of a society that still belittles mentally ill people, and keeps them locked out of mainstream society. Taking their pain seriously? Now that would be radical.’

Critics’ average rating 3.5★

Value rating 47 (Value rating is a combination of the critics’ average rating and the typical ticket price)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest can be seen at The Old Vic theatre until 23 May 2026. Buy tickets directly from the theatre

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