We are met by an attendant garbed in white. He reminds us we must be quiet and that electronic devices are not allowed, and then he slams the barred gate behind us.
We enter the day room. Off to our right is a door to the dormitory, the locked nurse's station with the drugs and records, and the lavatory. In front of us is a small table and some folding chairs. We are locked into a mental hospital in Dale Wasserman's adaptation of Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Director Douglas Lay's stroke of genius to make the audience suffer with the patients is extremely effective. Yes, we know we are watching a play, but being locked in with the inhabitants is eerie. The aides are a bit weird. There's Warren (Anthony Ross), much, much too quiet, and Williams (Roger Gobin), who can terrorize you with one look. These dudes are nasty. Nurse Flinn (Cristyn Chandler) doesn't belong in this institution. She seems quite nice, a bit shy, and petrified of the incarcerated ones.
Then there is the daughter of the Bitch of Buchenwald, Nurse Ratched (Bonnie Stone). None of us dares confront her. She is evil reincarnate. After what she did to Randall P. McMurphy (Giancarlo Ruiz), we were very happy to leave intact. Stone projects an iciness and vindictiveness that injects fear into her charges and all the rest of us.
Ruiz's McMurphy is classic. He is the smart-ass, the con artists, and he doesn't know when to stop. It is his show right up to the end. Ruiz embodies a perfect characterization of a man who does not do well with authority. An excellent interpretation.
Steven Jensen plays spineless Dr. Spivey, who is ruled by Nurse Rat-ched. Joseph Stevens plays easily manipulated Aide Turkle. A bottle of Jack (I think) and he gives away the keys to the kingdom...quite literally. This allows Candy Starr (Melissa Hamilton) and Sandy (Brenna Foley) to, shall we say, entertain the inmates.
It is, however, the sickies that rule. Brian Abraham is mute, stone-like Chief Bromden. Wow! Tim Waggoner's Billy Bittit is one to feel sadness for. Fred Moramarco brings us an interesting Dale Harding. Brian Hayes is a rather scary Frank Scanlon. Chris Fonseca, as Charles Cheswick, is a man you don't want to be alone with...ever. Finally, Bryant Hernandez presents a very sad, claustrophobic Anthony Martini.
This group provides us with amazingly depicted case studies of mental illness. Being in the same room with them (no stage, no proscenium) is an experience you will not forget. Yes, Wasserman wrote some stereotypes, but they are so very interesting. We learn quickly to hate Nurse Ratchet, sort of admire McMurphy, dislike all the aides, feel compassion for the inmates, and question why Nurse Flinn ever took the job. And isn't this one of the reasons to go to the theater, to get involved? Well, you'll really get involved with this version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
