Kevin O’Shea and his Shoestring drama group have chosen Dale Wasserman’s iconic play, ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ for their latest production at The Schoolyard Theatre, Charleville. The play is based on the novel of the same name by Ken Kesey and it opened on Wednesday night for an indefinite run. The play will run each Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday until mid-September, starting at 8.15 nightly.

The play calls for a very large cast and Kevin has gathered together the cream of amateur dramatics from all parts of Cork and Limerick to fill all of 16 parts.

Dale Wasserman’s stage adaptation of the play made its Broadway premiere in November 1963 with no less than Kirk Douglas in the lead role as Randle P McMurphy. It ran for a total of 82 performances.

Most will remember the film version which was based on the novel, not on the play. Released in 1975, Kirk Douglas was deemed too old for the role of McMurphy, and the role was given to Jack Nicholson.

The play tells of Randle P McMcMurphy – a criminal who is serving a short sentence on a prison farm for statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl but is transferred to a mental institution for evaluation. Although he does not show any overt signs of mental illness, he hopes to avoid hard labour and serve the rest of his sentence in a more ‘relaxed’ hospital environment.

McMurphy’s ward is run by the stern Nurse Ratched of whom the patients are very much afraid. McMurphy finds that they are more fearful of Ratched than they are focused on becoming functional in the outside world. McMurphy establishes himself immediately as the leader and from here, we have a rollercoaster ride right up to the final curtain.

The play had been hugely successful locally for both the Ballyduff Drama Group and The Palace Players – both having won All-Ireland titles with it.

‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ at The Schoolyard Theatre, Charleville – booking on 087-2530955 or further information from 063-81844.