This production is recommended for ages 14+.
Performance dates
1 April - 23 May 2026
Run time: TBC
No interval
‘It’s society’s way of dealing with someone different’ — One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
Inside a psychiatric facility, Chief Bromden has been silent for years — confined and maligned by a system that labels, divides and forgets. But he has a story to tell. He’s just been waiting for someone to listen.
Enter Randle P. McMurphy, a gambler and provocateur whose defiance unsettles the ward — and sparks something long dormant in Bromden and his fellow patients. Under the iron rule of Nurse Ratched, they have been stripped of their humanity. Now, McMurphy’s rebellion reminds the patients of their voices — and what it means to be free.
Based on Ken Kesey’s countercultural masterpiece, Clint Dyer directs a bold new staging of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest that reignites the spirit of the original novel, starring Aaron Pierre and Giles Terera. A searing exploration of colonialism and the social structures built to silence dissent, this production invites audiences to experience the story in a powerful new light.
Bird & Bird is the proud Production Sponsor of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Production supported by The Huo Family Foundation and The Public Fund
The big opening of the week is One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at the Old Vic. Ken Kesey’s iconic story of how the arrival of chancer Randle P. McMurphy on a psychiatric ward sparks rebellion gets a major revival from director Clint Dyer. His casting and approach may offer a slightly different spin on the famous tale, offering an edge, exploring America’s colonial legacy through the lens of Black men’s mental health, cultural difference, and forced subjugation. Aaron Pierce plays McMurphy, Giles Terera is Dale Harding, and Olivia Williams is replacing Michelle Gomez as the hated Nurse Ratched, a woman intent on exerting authority in a predominantly male world.
30 Mar, 2026 | By Lyn Gardner