Before the Jack Nicholson-led 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, there was Dale Wasserman's 1963 stage version of Ken Kesey's 1962 novel about a war of wills in a psychiatric hospital. It was sort of a big deal when it premiered on Broadway, starring Kirk Douglas and Gene Wilder. The 2001 revival picked up the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.
Now the play is coming to Melbourne in a new production starring Australian acting favourite Lachy Hulme (Offspring, Romper Stomper). Hulme plays Randle McMurphy, a Korean War veteran who ends up in a psychiatric ward after having himself declared insane to avoid prison. The ward is seen over by the tyrannical Nurse Ratched, who ends up at loggerheads with McMurphy.
The new Australian production will be directed by Tyran Parke and play a short season at Her Majesty's Theatre, exclusively in Melbourne.