Education Pack
© FOURBLOKES Theatre Company 2011
FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Ting. Tingle, tingle, tremble toes,
she's a good fisherman,
catches hens, put'em inna pens
wire blier, limber lock,
three gees inna flock
one flew east,
one flew west,
one flew over the cuckoo's nest...
O--U--T--spells out...
goose swoops down and plucks you out.
From a variant of the Mother Goose
rhyme that was printed in 1814.
Chief Bromden
Fourblokes' actor: Phil Stanley
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© FOURBLOKES THEATRE CO. 2011
FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Welcome to One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Contents
Page
Introduction
The Play
- The playwright Dale Wasserman,
- The characters
- Preparing GCSE drama students for the play
- A brief potted history of the play
- Setting & summary of the play
- A word about style
- Play genre, significant quotes
- Practical Drama
- Differentiated extras/fillers/hw
- Designing for the stage
- Interview with Kirsty, costume designer
- Costume Design gallery
The Novel
- The author Ken Kesey
- Background - 1950s & The Cold War
- Joseph McCarthy, Beatniks
- LSD, Kesey & the novel
- The nursery rhyme & title
- Themes
- Working with themes
- Motifs, symbols & imagery
- More questions, & 'work triggers' for English
Disability & OFOTCN
- Teaching & Learning activities
- Why was I there? (Personal account)
The Film
- Lasting impact?
- McMurphy's Cinematic Brothers in Rebellion
- And finally...
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5-6
7-10
11
12
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14
15
16-22
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24
25-26
27-28
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30
31
32
33
34-35
36
37-40
41
42-43
44
45
46-47
48-50
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FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Introduction
Welcome to our latest Education Pack, which has been designed once again to
support your visit to see the new and compelling stage production from multi awardwinning FOURBLOKES THEATRE COMPANY.
This time it's the legendary One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Dale
Wasserman's award winning stage version of Ken Kesey's ground-breaking novel.
The pack is flexible and both student and teacher friendly - with much that will engage
both drama and english teachers & students, but also should interest citizenship,
pshe and media studies practitioners.
Responding to requests and suggestions from teachers who have already discovered
the many ways our packs can save time and effort in developing appropriate teaching
& learning resources, we've tried to build on the crisp, fresh, no-nonsense layout that
seems popular, and we feel that this is possibly the best one yet. Please continue to
give us your feedback, as we do appreciate it and it definitely shapes future
FOURBLOKES projects.
We are now in our sixth year and are the proud winners of 5 NODA Best Regional
Play awards and 2 Derby Eagle awards, but it is our commitment to providing local
school, college and university students & staff with best value, quality live theatre
productions which still brings us greatest satisfaction.
So thanks for your support, enjoy browsing through the pages of the pack, and relish
the benefits of having been part of the FOURBLOKES experience!
Kind regards,
The FOURBLOKES Team, September 2011
www.fourblokes.com
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© FOURBLOKES THEATRE CO. 2011
FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
The Play
Dale Wasserman on the writing of One Flew Over the
Cuckoo’s Nest
“In order to write this play I need to know much more
about asylums, treatments, and the so‐called insane. My
research covers six institutions, starting with a posh
mental clinic in New York where I watch sixty
electroshock treatments in one morning and encounter
two other writers among the patients. Then down, down
the scale to the abysmal cellar of Milledgeville, Georgia,
a classic snake pit where the
patients spend their days chained to radiators.
Climactically, still unsatisfied that I know my subject
well enough, I arrange with the head psychiatrist of an
Eastern institution to have myself committed as a
patient for a period of two weeks. (Of that, perhaps I'll
write at another time.) I can only say that there's no
urge to escape an asylum; to the contrary, it's
comfortable, it is seductive to abandon volition and to
live unstressed at no price other than merely obeying
the rules.”
from “Hatching The Cuckoo’s Nest" By Dale Wasserman.
Dale Wasserman
Playwright, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Wasserman served American
theatre for over 50 years. In
earlier days he roamed the US as
a hobo, riding freight trains and
largely avoiding any formal
education. At nineteen, he
gravitated into the theatre where
he cut his teeth on every
conceivable job - stage manager,
lighting designer, director and
producer among them. At age 33,
he walked off the Broadway
musical he was directing,
abruptly deciding to become a
writer. Since then, he produced a
continuous body of work for the
theatre, film and television.
Never writing with a direct eye on
commercial reward, his instincts
drew him to a vast range of
subjects, with fate often lending a
hand. Visiting Spain in the late
1950s, the press incorrectly
reported that he was researching
Don Quixote. Intrigued, he did
just that. The result was I, Don
Quixote, a TV drama starring Lee
J. Cobb, Eli Wallach, and Colleen
Dewhurst, which in turn became
Man of La Mancha, multiple
Tony-winner and among the
longest-running Broadway
musicals of all time.
!"##$%&"' #"()*
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Do you agree with this?
© FOURBLOKES THEATRE CO. 2011
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FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Dale Wasserman continued...
Man of La Mancha became a
multiple Tony-winner and
among the longest-running
Broadway musicals of all time.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest, also a multiple Tonywinner, was initially a flop on
Broadway but later played to
packed houses for 4 years in
New York and 5 years in San
Francisco - leading, of course,
to the famous film, released in
1976 and starring Jack
Nicholson.
Mr. Wasserman's many other
credits include screenplays for
The Vikings, Cleopatra, and A
Walk with Love and Death. as
well as countless TV dramas.
His play about Haiti, An
Enchanted Land, had its
premiere in London. He also
wrote three new musicals:
Western Star, a look at the
shady side of American
"pioneers"; A Walk In the Sky,
about the power of art to reach
the primitive heart; and a
revised version of Duke
Ellington's masterpiece,
Beggar's Holiday, and a
comedy: Premiere!
Wasserman considers Players
In the Game to be his most
incisive writing.
Mr. Wasserman was awarded
Honorary Doctorates from
several universities, and when
asked, guessed that he had
"maybe a couple dozen," but
since he always avoided
awards ceremonies, he was
simply not sure.
Reclusive by nature, he and
his wife, Martha Nelly Garza,
made their home in Arizona.
Dale Wasserman passed away
in 2008 at the age of 94!
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© FOURBLOKES THEATRE CO. 2011
FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
The Characters
Chief Bromden
St
Chief Bromden is the son of a chief of the Columbia Indians
and a white woman. He suffers from paranoia and
hallucinations, has received multiple electroshock
treatments, and has been in the hospital for ten years,
longer than any other patient in the ward. Bromden sees
modern society as a huge, oppressive 'machine' and the
hospital as a place meant to fix people who do not conform.
Bromden narrates the story of the mental ward while regaining
a sense of himself as an individual.
Phil
le
an
y
J as o
Pa
Randle Patrick McMurphy
n
R. P. McMurphy is a big gambler, a con man, and a free spirit.
He was sentenced to six months at a prison work farm, and
when he was diagnosed as a psychopath — for “fighting and
fucking too much” — he did not protest because he thought
the hospital would be more comfortable than the work farm.
McMurphy serves as an unlikely Christ figure in the play —
the dominant force challenging the establishment, and the
ultimate saviour of the victimized patients.
rker
e
an
Nurse Ratched
The head of the hospital ward. Nurse Ratched, the play’s
Sand
y L antagonist, is a middle-aged former army nurse. She rules
her ward with an iron hand and masks her humanity and
femininity behind a stiff, patronizing facade. She selects her
staff for their submissiveness, and she weakens her
patients through a psychologically manipulative regime
designed to destroy their self-esteem. Ratched’s
emasculating, mechanical ways slowly drain all traces of
humanity from her patients.
es
Dale Harding
Ian J An acerbic, college-educated patient and president of the
on
Patients’ Council. Harding helps McMurphy understand the
realities of the hospital. He has a difficult time dealing with
the oppressive nature of society, so he hides in the hospital
voluntarily. Harding’s development and the reemergence of
his individual self signal the success of McMurphy’s battle
against Ratched.
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© FOURBLOKES THEATRE CO. 2011
FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Billy Bibbit
A shy patient. Billy has a bad stutter and seems much younger
than his thirty-one years. Billy Bibbit is dominated by his
mother, one of Nurse Ratched’s close friends. Billy is
voluntarily in the hospital, as he is afraid of the outside world.
Ros
s
we
Lo
Doctor Spivey
Nurse Ratched chose Doctor Spivey as the doctor for her ward
because he is as easily cowed and dominated as the patients.
With McMurphy’s arrival, he, like the other patients, begins
to assert himself. He even supports McMurphy’s unusual
plans for the ward, such as holding a carnival.
g
Cra
i
Brid
g es
Charles Cheswick
The first patient to support McMurphy’s rebellion against
Nurse Ratched’s power. He alternates between an aggressive
temper and childish giggles. His twitchy hands often suggest
his mental fragility.
Ron
Fro
st
Martini
Another childlike hospital patient. Martini lives in a world of
delusional hallucinations, but McMurphy is sympathetic and
includes Martini in their antics and card games, which is a
significant boost for this volatile personality.
Step
he
n R e es
Terr
y
e p h e ns o n
St
Scanlon
The only Acute besides McMurphy who was involuntarily
committed to the hospital. Scanlon has fantasies of blowing
things up. Like most of the inmates he is totally
unpredictable.
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FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Mik H
o
ath
rv
Mar
ie
on e
St
Gary
Embittered and 'anti-everybody' - including Nurse Ratched.
She nevertheless competes with Williams to get in Ratched's
good books. She enjoys baiting Chief Bromden.
Aide Turkle
The nighttime orderly for Nurse Ratched’s ward. He is a pot
smoker, likes a drink and has an eye for the ladies. He helps
the patients throw the after-hours party in the ward.
er
ev
L u cy
H
a
m
The most aggressive orderly in Nurse Ratched’s team.
Sarcastic with the patients but none too bright, he is
constantly wary of Ratched. He soon gets on McMurphy's
case.
Aide Warren
L
Gem
Aide Williams
Bla
Nurse Flinn
A strict Catholic nurse who works with Nurse Ratched.
Nurse Flinn is afraid of the patients’ sexuality. She is
efficient but naieve.
ke
ea
2
th x
Sandra
A 'good time girl' who knows McMurphy and is friends
with Candy Starr. Not bright and recently separated from
a very odd husband.
Nurse Pilbow
Another cold, 'no frills' member of Ratched's nursing team.
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FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Heat
h
Pa
rkin
Ruckley
A Chronic patient. Ruckley was once an Acute, but was
transformed into a Chronic due to a botched lobotomy.
Alternates between being a figure of fun and mockery though he is ultimately unnerving and a constant
warning to McMurphy.
Laur
a
Fo
Candy Starr
gue
va r
A good friend of McMurphy's - a beautiful and carefree
'tart with a heart'. Makes the hearts of all the male
inmates beat significantly faster. Not bright but not a fool.
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© FOURBLOKES THEATRE CO. 2011
FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Preparing GCSE Drama Students For The Play
AQA GCSE DRAMA 3.1.3 Section C: Study of a live theatre production seen
"Candidates are expected to have studied, as part of their course, a production
of live professional or non-professional theatre. It is helpful for candidates to
follow theatre visits with practical workshop study. In the Written Paper
candidates will be
given an opportunity to show their knowledge and understanding of how plays
are constructed and realised. There will be opportunities for those with particular
interests in performance, design or technical aspects of production to answer on
those elements.
Productions must be of scripted plays. Candidates must have studied the play
from a practical point of view and should be able to show their knowledge and
understanding of the way in which the text was realised in the production.
Candidates are required to produce a personal response to various aspects of
‘live’ theatre productions seen during the course. Candidates must study the play
before and after the theatre visit with practical workshops, whether their main
interest is performance or design or technical skills.
Candidates should be able to demonstrate their understanding of performance or
design or technical skills as well as their knowledge and understanding of the
chosen live production from a performance perspective (AO1), and they should
be able to analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of their ideas and skills and
those of others (AO3).
Candidates should be able to demonstrate:
•
a clear understanding of how plays are constructed and realised
•
informed knowledge and understanding of the acting performances and the
skills involved
•
informed knowledge and understanding of the technical and design
elements and the skills involved
•
informed knowledge and understanding of the social, historical and cultural
context of the live theatre production
•
the ability to analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of the skills presented"
•
the ability to analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of the production as a
whole.
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FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
A brief potted history of the play
The rights to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey's 1962 novel
about rebellion in a mental hospital, were acquired by Kirk Douglas soon after
publication as a vehicle in which he planned to return to the Broadway stage.
When Douglas discovered that Wasserman had also tried to buy the rights, he
hired him to write the play, agreeing that Wasserman should retain all rights to
his dramatisation while Douglas retained screen rights to the novel.
After opening to positive reviews in Boston, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest went to Broadway, where it received reviews from New York's most
influential critics that Douglas described as "murderous". Howard Taubman of
the New York Times wrote of the play's "appalling taste", while Walter Kerr of
the Herald Tribune declared that the "tastelessness of this character (R.P.
McMurphy) should be talked about".
The play struggled through a five-month run. "It was terrible," Wasserman
later said. "Kirk was so frightened to return to the live stage he took refuge in
being lovable every moment of the play. But his character was half Christ and
half con-man and he was not meant to be lovable."
Though One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest flopped first time on stage, an offBroadway revival starring William Devane in 1971 ran for over 2,000
performances and prompted the Oscar-winning film version in 1975 (which did
not involve Wasserman).
The play was subsequently revived on Broadway in 2001 starring Gary Sinise,
who won a Tony for the best revival of a play, and in 2004 it was successfully
staged in London, starring Christian Slater (below) and Frances Barber.
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FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Time
Setting of the play
The 1960s (In fact our director set the action in 1967 specifically)
Place
“The day room in a ward of a State Mental Hospital somewhere in the
PacificNorthwest. A spacious, clean-lined expanse, impersonal and rather sterile.”
Summary of the play
The curtain rises on a large, sterile ward in a mental asylum which is kept under
control by the icy rule of Nurse Ratched. The patients are kept in line through the use
of tranquilizing drugs and the threat of electroconvulsive therapy and worse. When
Randle P. McMurphy, an uncontrolled brash, self-confident, fighter, gambler, lover and
self-confessed psychopath bursts into the ward, Nurse Ratched’s unchallenged rule is
put into question. To avoid hard jail time at a prison farm, McMurphy has pretended to
be crazy. Ironically, he soon finds that this mental asylum is far more harsh and
oppressive than his previous prison ever was.
At first, McMurphy’s attitude and defiance towards Ratched and her rules serve as a
source of humour and sport. However the ward’s dynamics quickly change to a noholds-barred conflict between McMurphy’s irrepressible desire to express his free will
and Nurse Ratched’s uncompromising commitment to maintain her control and
authority.
Prior to McMurphy’s arrival, the patients had given up and given in to Nurse
Ratched’s authority. They tolerate her arbitrary rules and have abandoned any desire
to exercise any form of independence. McMurphy decides that he will make men out of
the complacent “boys.” Soon, much to the dismay of Nurse Ratched, the patients are
resisting her authority and are verging on rebellion.
McMurphy is threatened with electroconvulsive therapy if he does not conform to
Ratched’s expectations. Predictably, McMurphy is unable to give in to the Big Nurse’s
authority and the threat becomes a reality.
Not content with merely inflicting humiliation and pain on McMurphy, Nurse Ratched
manipulates events to show McMurphy who is in ultimate control and to ensure that all
the patients learn a lesson about the consequences of defiant behaviour such as
McMurphy’s.
Much of the story is witnessed through the eyes of Chief Bromden and in the end, it
is he who finds a way to free McMurphy (and himself) from Nurse Ratched.
© FOURBLOKES THEATRE CO. 2011
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FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
A word about style
It is curious how a novel as hallucinatory as "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" has
been represented in theatre and film as a piece of social realism. As a hospital drama the
piece tends towards melodrama and its characters are dangerously close to stereotypes. It is
also rather bleak and susceptible to the criticism that this regime no longer exists.
The play must go beyond either the realistic drama or the mere allegory. Kesey, for
example, was writing about mental illness as a metaphor. The mentally ill are pulled into the
present, their hallucinations link their conscious with their subconscious. The Nurse, for
example, is not a representative of aggressive womanhood, but of repressed thinking.
Each of the patients represents states of being, or awareness. And it is the Chief who
is the key figure, because he is able to see the 'Big Picture' - but Society has decided that he
is insane and he is unable to bear the burden of his understanding. McMurphy shows him
that he can use his perception to act, to do. McMurphy gives him self respect, which of
course allows him first to speak and then to escape.
Unless a production gives value to the states of perception of the Chief then the
production is untrue to the book - which is narrated by the Chief. The film, in comparison, has
the Chief as a secondary character - the story is seen from the perspective of Jack
Nicholson's McMurphy.
The audience should be offered an insight into the experience of all the characters. It is
particularly important to give weight to the patients’ world view. If they are simply "crazy" then
the Nurse and society at large are right in wanting to 'cure' them by any means. McMurphy
gives the inmates dignity, confidence and, in Billy's case, even sexuality, yet theirs is the true
journey.
His own journey ends in tragedy but he saves them, even though he dies in the process.
There is of course a religious parallel here. And whether 'Cuckoo' is a mystical, political or
hallucinatory story is beside the point - it is all of these things.
It is surely not a realistic
to treat the mentally ill.
drama about old-fashioned ways
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FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Play genre
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest contains aspects found in a number of
different theatrical and literary genres. These genres include:
Tragedy – serious works in which the protagonists suffer a tragic end, or loss as a
result of a character defect or unwise decision.
Morality Play – a form of entertainment which first became popular during the
Middle Ages. Many modern plays are also considered morality plays if their plots
involve straightforward characters and if their purpose is to teach lessons in
morality.
Comedy of Menace – Plays which fit this genre are humorous in places but the
humour is mingled with plot elements that are unsettling and disturbing.
Audiences at such plays often find it difficult to know how to respond in that the
dramatized situations are funny and unsettling at the same time.
Realism – realistic drama involving everyday people dealing with significant social
and political issues of the day
Significant quotes from the play
Chief Bromden: We got stone brains, cast-iron guts, and copper where they took away our
nerves. We got cog-wheels in our bellies and a welded grin, and every time they throw a switch
it turn us on or off.
Nurse Ratched: Most of you are here because you could not adjust to the outside world. You
broke the rules of society.
McMurphy: What are you doin’ here – you outta be out in a convertible, bird dogging chicks an’
bangin’ beaver. (Billy looks at the floor.) All you guys, why the hell do you stay? You gripe, you
bitch how you can't stand this place, can't stand the Big Nurse, and here all the time you ain't
committed! What's the matter with you? Ain't you got any guts just to walk out? I mean,
whattaya think you are – crazy or somethin’?
Harding: We are the psychoceramics, the cracked pots of humanity.
Cheswick: "Behave yourself, boys!" What choice we got?
McMurphy: But I tried, Godammit, I tried.
Chief Bromden: McMurphy. Make me big again.
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FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
PRACTICAL DRAMA
1. Improvisation work using Billy Bibbit as the trigger.
Lesson One:
Ros
we as Billy
Lesson Two:
s
Lo
Read scene as a whole group.
Discuss situation and character of Billy.
Select one still image from his story & bring it to life as a team
improvisation.
• Hot-seat Billy – for more background information.
HW: Research care in US mental institutions in the 1950s/60s
•
•
•
Recap/ debrief HW.
• Define making space: ‘The Hospital’ – rehabilitation centre for
psychiatric patients.
• Decide: some patients, some workers & Billy. Impro ‘day to day routines’.
• Select a still image – and thought track characters.
• Billy receives a letter from his mother – create an artefact or use a live voice over.
Lesson Three:
•
•
•
•
Split into groups – discuss and devise what could have happened when he was:
13, 17, 21 and 26 years old.
Using the information – create the image – thought track and move the most
important moment.
Back to The Hospital – Flashback, Billy’s life. So the rest of the patients become his life as
worked out by the groups above.
Put all this together from Billy receiving the letter – voice over right through to last
flashback and then back to still image you started with.
Lesson Four:
•
•
•
•
Explore the day it was decided he'd go into the mental hospital: Tunnel of thoughts
leading up to the front door.
Flashback to the day he was put into a room on the ward.
Define the space – we become the walls of the room – Billy inside the room – we are his
thoughts in his head.
HW: Write up this project in a written evaluation, comparing your work with that of the
Fourblokes Theatre's 'take' on the characters - especially that of Billy Bibbit..
Key words that may well be part of your course's terminology are highlighted in bold. Please keep
using and learning them. Your teacher will advise.
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FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
PRACTICAL DRAMA
2: Creating responses from a 1960s song lyric stimulus
Aims: oTo stimulate thoughtful discussion and strong impro work from an unusual trigger.
oTo explore relevant issues arising from the 1960s & devise a drama response.
The song, strangely, is called “Positively 4th Street”. (Any thoughts?) It was
written in 1965 by Bob Dylan - regarded as the leading 'protest singer' of all time.
7. You see me on the street You always act surprised.
You say, "How are you?" "Good luck"
But you don't mean it.
1.
You got a lotta nerve
To say you are my friend.
When I was down
You just stood there grinning.
2.
8. When you know as well as me
You got a lotta nerve
You'd rather see me paralysed.
To say you got a helping hand to lend.
Why don't you just come out once
You just want to be on
And scream it?
The side that's winning.
9. No, I do not feel that good
You say I let you down When I see the heartbreaks you
You know it's not like that.
embrace.
If I was a master thief
If you're so hurt
Perhaps I'd rob them.
Why then don't you show it?
3.
4.
You say you lost your faith
But that's not where it's at You had no faith to lose
And you know it.
10. And now I know you're
dissatisfied
With your position and your place.
Don't you understand
It's not my problem?
5.
I know the reason
That you talk behind my back I used to be among the crowd
You're in with.
11. I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes,
And just for that one moment
I could be you.
6.
Do you take me for such a fool
To think I'd make contact
With the one who tries to hide
What he don't know to begin with?
12. Yes, I wish that for just one
time
You could stand inside my shoes You'd know what a drag it is
To see you…
In your team, listen to the track, then read & discuss the lyrics
together, and decide the usual Ws of Drama – in this case:
Who is saying all the ‘put down’ comments in the song lyric?
Who do you think it’s all aimed at? An individual or society in
general?
What might have happened in the past to lead to this sort of bitter
outburst?
Why is it all being said now? Has something triggered it?
Where could your drama be set? How exactly?
What might/could happen next?
There’s potential for many different ways of responding to this ‘edgy’ song lyric. Explore!
Aim to produce your team’s most powerful drama yet!!
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FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
PRACTICAL DRAMA
3: Improvisation from character
'Cuckoo's Nest' is a gathering of many contrasting characters in a confined space. Consider...
Contrasting Characters
Working in a group of five or six, students should choose one of the following descriptions for their
character. When they have sorted this out amongst themselves, provide a setting for the characters.
(Listed below):
Characters:
• An irritable senior citizen
• A wealthy snobbish person
• A demanding child
• A scientist
• A teacher
• A fashion model
• A young mother
• A very well behaved, polite child
• A priest
• An off duty police officer
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Settings: (multiple opportunities as long as there are clear, defined space parameters)
An open-air market
A cinema
A library
Part of an airport
A demonstration
A bank
A sports event
A railway station
A travel agency
Following character types and settings, provide a brief, one-or-two-words description
of the situation in which these characters are to interact in a dramatic situation.
Allow sufficient time for students to prepare for presentation.
Situations:
Sudden Emergency
Obsession
Annoying Child
Be Calm
Accusation
Suspicion
Be Patient
Secret Pickpocket
Who's First?
Old Friends
Recognition
A Queue
Amongst Rivals
Objectives:
•
•
•
adapting character to the setting (What would a scientist be doing at an airport?
Why would a priest be in a cinema?).
how to incorporate characters into the same scene or scenes. (How will they
interact in such a way that they reveal information about their own, and each other's,
personalities, pasts and motivations?)
revealing this information to the audience, and playing a part in the story at the
same time?
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PRACTICAL DRAMA
4: Improvisation from character - student guidance
Look at each element of character separately:
Personality = The way your particular character behaves that makes him or her unique. Is she
optimistic or gloomy? Does he have a tendency to exaggerate? Is she polite, weak-willed, dominant,
gullible, trustworthy, forgetful or easily upset?
Past = What has happened to your character in the recent and distant past? How do these past
experiences effect her attitude towards other people, places and objects? Have these experiences
effected her personality in any way? Is she snobbish because she was brought up that way or has
she just been influenced by people she has met or seen in later life?
Motivation = Why does your character do what she does in the scene? Why does she say what she
says? Motivations are just the reasons for saying or doing things.
These elements of character can be revealed to the audience in three main ways:
a) What she says to others and the way in which she says it.
b) What others say about her.
c) What she does (including her use of gestures and movements).
Remember that your character will not simply spring into life the moment that she says her first
words. Part of your job, as an actor, is to suggest a past existence for her. You don't have to invent
every detail about her life since birth but there should be some awareness of past deeds, influences
and upbringing. The following situations will allow you to reveal important information about your
character. You will be working in smaller groups this time, three or four only. Your teacher will ask
your group to choose one of the descriptions from the list that follows and you will be expected to
invent a character of your own:
Revealing Character
• You are a group of teachers in the staff room of a school. It is the first day of the new term and you
are discussing your summer break.
• You are a team of student doctors accompanying a senior surgeon on his/her rounds of the
hospital.
• You are group of students on a field trip with your teacher. You are being taken around a large
museum.
• You are new recruits in the army. You have just arrived on the parade ground and are meeting your
Drill Sergeant for the first time.
• You are a family having a picnic in the countryside. Someone forgot to pack the drinks.
• You are a group of advertising executives at a meeting. You are discussing your new soft drink
promotion campaign.
• You are a group of hikers who are lost in a foreign country, miles from civilisation. One of you has a
compass, one of you is feeling unwell and one of you is cold.
Activities like this demand that your characters interact in a way that will create a dramatic scene.
Try to avoid using any narration - reveal character through dialogue and action.
If you are have sufficient time for preparation, you might wish to make a brief plan for your
presentation.
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PRACTICAL DRAMA
5: Theme-Based Improvised Drama
Information for students:
You will find that the less information and stimuli you are given, the more thinking and
planning you have to do for your drama. Sometimes you will be given just a simple one-word
theme like 'trust' or 'obsession'. The way in which you approach such a theme is largely up
to you.
It is helpful also to draw on your own experiences. Remembering a point in your own life
when you have experienced obsession, loyalty, suspicion or whatever the given theme is,
can form a starting point for your presentation. Other people can also provide a rich source
of ideas. Don't hesitate to ask parents, teachers or friends about their experiences.
If you are working in a pair or group, it is useful to use Brainstorming as an approach.
You have probably used this technique in other subjects but here's a quick reminder of what
it entails:
Taking it in turns, each person in your group says a word or phrase that they would
associate with your given theme. Someone should have a pen and paper ready to jot down
some of these ideas. Each person should take a number of turns. The words or phrases
may be associated with locations, characters, moods or dialogue. Here's an example of
the hastily scribbled results of just such an exercise:
Honesty - truth, money, lies, stealing, parent, family, marriage,
Husband, wife, cheating, love, "I trusted you", "I'm guilty",
forever, courage, "Own up", "I'll give you one last chance",
betrayal, "I saw you do it", "Which do you prefer?",
"Trust me", "Liar, liar, pants on fire", doctor, priest, politician.
Following an exercise like this, it is possible to pick out the words or phrases you think will
work best in your drama. This sort of activity is an ideal starting point for the planning
process.
When you have selected one of the following themes, you should attempt to follow the steps
of the planning process of creating an improvisation:
* Brainstorm the word or phrase
* Discuss - choose particular ideas you like from the list
* Gather research materials
* Decide on story, setting and characters
* Make basic plan of scene by scene
* Rehearse it.
Themes: (There are many themes in 'Cuckoo' - see the novel section or use these
below as promising alternatives for dramatic approaches.)
Obsession - Obsessions can be harmful, sometimes resulting in tragic consequences. Romeo
and Juliet's obsession for each other, regardless of family pressure, leads to four untimely deaths.
Loyalty - Loyalty can take many forms, from a servant's loyalty to master/mistress or a
supporter's loyalty to his or her bottom of the league sports team.
Ambition - If someone has an objective, goal or plan that drives them on, they can be said
to have an ambition. Lady Macbeth's strongest ambition is to see her husband as King.
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PRACTICAL DRAMA
6: Improvisation work using Chief Bromden as the trigger.
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Imagine being in the 'mental cage' that imprisons The Chief...
The Cage exercise:
With masking tape, mark out a four-foot, by four-foot square on the ground. Members
of the group should surround the square (backs facing inward, leaving tiny gaps between
each person and remaining as still as possible) and give each person 2 minutes or so
inside the square.
Try to lie down or get comfortable and imagine spending years confined in such a
space, with no glimpse of the outside world. Try not to talk during this exercise, unless
you are the person inside the square and you want to have a vocal reaction to your
environment. (This exercise could be expanded to include other inmates too.)
Once everyone in the group has had a turn, discuss:
•
•
•
•
•
•
What were your impulse feelings while you were in the square?
Was there an object or person that came into your mind?
What coping mechanisms do you think you would have had to develop to survive?
What psychological issues may have arisen as a result of living in a ‘cage’?
What physical issues may have arisen as a result of living in a ‘cage’?
Are there any circumstances that you think justify keeping people in such
confinement for years and years?
What comes next for Chief Bromden?
The Chief's life to date has been dramatic. His early monologues give us glimpses
of the kind of life he led – pre-mental hospital, then into hospital, and at the start of the
play he is probably at the lowest point of his life.
But then, at the conclusion of the play, he escapes, and the firm inference is that he
will work at enjoying his freedom.
Pick a ‘section’ of The Chief's 'new' life and improvise a short scene in which
he appears. The scene should give an idea of how his life has now changed and can
include any new characters (i.e. those not in) or may include some of the characters from
his early life. Try to do this in groups of 3 or 4.
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PRACTICAL DRAMA
7: Structuring 'Difficult' Scenes
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is in so many ways a 'difficult' play to stage.
(Why exactly? Consider and discuss problems that might prove tricky with The Chief's
monologues, the shock therapy, or Billy's suicide, for example.)
This task looks at how to structure improvisations that tackle 'difficult' topics.
The example chosen is a riot in a poor inner city area.
Why 'difficult'? Well to start with,there is no way to show a full blown riot on stage.
It is no problem for film as they can move location quickly but on stage we need to think about
where and when our scenes are set in relation to the dramatic happening which in this case is
a riot.
Consider the following and plan your group's response:
•
•
•
•
•
•
a group of frightened teenagers huddle in an alleyway as the mob fights the police
in front of them. All of a sudden a youth stumbles in to the alleyway, bleeding from a
serious head wound.
the next morning a reporter interviews local people and gets their reaction on what
has happened and what should be done to avoid more trouble.
a family are listening to news reports when they realise that that is where their uncle
lives.
tension continues as injured police officers and youths are brought into Casualty at
the local hospital.
a panel on a current affairs show discuss the findings of a report on the riots six
months later.
on the anniversary of the riot, a reporter goes back to the area to see whether things
have changed over the past twelve months.
What other scenes can the group create that are related to the main event but are distanced
from it somewhat by either time or space?
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DIFFERENTIATED 'EXTRAS/FILLERS/HW''
(Use as appropriate.)
Create a mini 'Act 3' for the play:
Assume that some time has passed since the events at the end of the play.
What might have happened to some of the major characters?
- Create a brand new scene in which you dramatise what you think could
happen one year later to some of the following characters:
Nurse Ratched
Dale Harding
Candy Starr
Chief Bromden.
You may need new characters with which your character(s) can interact.
Cast a new film version of the play:
Assume that another feature film version of the story is being made and that you have
been given the job of finding a cast for it.
What well known actors would you choose to play the roles of the major characters?To
justify your casting choices, you should refer to other similar roles handled by each of
the actors.
Protagonist:
A protagonist is defined as the major character in a work. One important characteristic
of a protagonist is that he or she undergoes a significant character change.
Based on the above definitions, who, in your opinion, is the protagonist in the play?
Justify your opinion.
Website:
Create a Web site to introduce One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to other readers.
Design pages to intrigue and inform your audience, and invite other readers to post
their thoughts and responses to their reading of the novel.
Microcosm:
The mental hospital is clearly meant as a microcosm of America in the 1960s, a picture
of the world that the counterculture is rebelling against. Who do people on the ward
represent in society? In what other ways is it shown as a microcosm? What does this
tell us about the revolt?
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DESIGNING FOR THE STAGE
Setting & Mood
•
This play is a challenge to set designers in that there is only one set. To expect
audiences to look at the same set for the entire duration of a performance, the set must
be interesting and multi-functional.
- What were your first impressions of the set?
- What did the set design and props contribute to the overall effect of the play?
- How did the director utilize the set to make it multi-functional?
•
Identify when and how sound, music and lighting effects were used effectively
during the performance.
In other words, what specific moods, atmosphere or effects did the use of sound, music
and lighting help to create at various times in the performance?
•
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is set in the 1960s in a mental institution in
Oregon, USA. What would be lost or gained if the play were staged in modern day
costumes and in a present day British setting?
Stage Design
Considering what you know about One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest already, make a
rough design sketch for the type of staging and design you would opt for if you were
directing the play. It may be wise to concentrate on the set up for just one scene that
you’re familiar with. You could use A3 paper to give yourself space for explanations
and it would be good if you could represent the staging in a 3D drawing. The sketch
does not have to be to scale, but should be labelled appropriately. e.g. state where the
audience will sit and what each item of set on the playing area is. Consider the time
period and the world/ genre of the play to influence your ideas.
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Interview with our Costume Designer
Kirsty Brammer is our new and brilliant young costume designer for One Flew Over The
Cuckoo's Nest and our interview with her gives good insight into the issues of designing on a
budget. (Take a look at her website at www.k-b-designs.tumblr.com)
Q. How did you get into costume design, and why is it important?
A. I found my love for costume through the understanding and the belief of any
drama's characters. For me it is important to have the ability of creating visual
concepts to characterise and enable others to see, understand and believe in the
person on stage. I find that costumes enable an audience to express and
acknowledge the character they are viewing in depth, allowing them to visualise and
develop an understanding as an independent viewer. As well as creating an era,
period, or indication of status, costumes also develop continuing understanding of
the portrayal of the character.
Q. Where did you start with 'Cuckoo's Nest'?
A. My inspiration for working on “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was creating
costumes that were strong and meaningful to the story. After watching a few
rehearsals I was able to observe the characters moulding around the actors and
their strengths. From this I was able to develop costumes with personalities that
reflected both the character and the actor depicting the character.
Q. What were the challenges of designing for Cuckoo’s Nest?
A. A major challenge with “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was the budget.
When I start a project I think about many things that need doing and the cost of
them. For example, at first I thought about ten different outfits for McMurphy!
Realistically I had to make changes, recreate and minimise the amount of clothing
without losing the identity and personality of McMurphy. From this it was important I
thought about where I sourced my costumes from, and whether I made or bought
certain items. I had to make sure I was using quality clothes from a certain era with a
certain look that also took into account the budget I had. I decided to 'source' - as
distinct from making - all of them apart from Nurse Ratched's costume, the doctor’s
coat and other hospital staff items. I also decided to make McMurphy's pink shorts
with the white whales tail on it as I knew I wasn't going to find them anywhere and it
was something financially viable that I could make to achieve the effect I wanted.
The time scale was a little challenging as I had other projects alongside this one and
my paid work as well, which meant sometimes I wasn’t able to put as much time into
the costumes as I wanted. But by keeping a strong focus this was still achievable.
The biggest challenge was creating costumes that inspired the actors and moulded
around them, reflecting what the each wanted to achieve with their hard work.
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Q. What were some of your first impressions of the characters in OFOTCN on
reading the play? How did these impressions shape your initial ideas for your
designs?
A. There were definitely a few characters that stuck in my mind throughout the
research - ones that kept popping up owing to their being quite strong characters,
e.g. Nurse Ratched and of course, McMurphy, but later I found I was spending the
same time and effort on all characters, not just the main characters. Watching the
actors in rehearsal influenced my designing to an extent that I didn’t think was
going to happen. Watching a character's emotions change and progress
throughout the play did affect the design as it influenced certain colours or shapes
used on that character's costume.
Q. On a tight ‘am-dram’ budget, you've gotta be crafty. Any tricks of the trade or
resources that are your "go-to's"?
A. When working on a budget, if you can source a costume, do so as it costs more
in making than buying. You can always characterise a piece of clothing by
distressing, adding and recreating certain things on the costume. Getting to know
your local charity and vintages shops can be very helpful. Find the strongest
elements of the period that the play is set in. For example, with 'Cuckoo', and the
1960s, popular elements were diagonal pockets, woolly cuffs and zips.
Q. Which costume for OFOTCN was most challenging?
A. Potentially, the most difficult characters to costume would be those that I
couldn’t focus on strongly enough till rehearsal; whereas when going to rehearsals
I was able to see the actor’s interpretation of the characters.
The costume that I had to spend more time on and think about was Nurse Ratched.
Her costume had many different elements such as at the end of the play she has
Billy’s blood on her uniform and then McMurphy rips the dress. I had to think of
different ways I could achieve this without making three different costumes owing
to the budget and time constraints. So through the design I came up with a way of
making one costume that had two panels that swap over during scene changes.
Q. What advice would you give to young, aspiring costume designers?
A. My advice to anyone who is inspired to become a costume designer or maker is
to keep the focus of the character and keep in mind the personality of the
characters you are designing for.
Listen to your first ideas, as they are first ideas for a reason. Develop them, don’t
forget them.
Do as much as you can within theatre - the more you do, the more costume and
designs you can do, the better.
Don’t forget detail. Detail is important. The smaller the details the more impact they
have on the costume.
Keep your passion going by watching as many plays as possible.
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A gallery of some of Kirsty's initial designs for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
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FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
!"# $%&#'
Ken Kesey - Original author, "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"
Kenneth Elton Kesey was born in Colorado, USA on September 17th, 1935.
Throughout his high school and college years, he was a champion wrestler and almost
earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic wrestling team.
Before the publication of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey completed two
unpublished novels: End of Autumn and Zoo.
In 1959, during his studies at Stanford University, Kesey became a paid volunteer in a
CIA financed project (Project MKULTRA) which studied the effects of hallucinogenic
drugs such as LSD and mescaline. While participating in the project, Kesey interviewed
patients at the Menlo Park Veteran’s Hospital and eventually formed the opinion that
they had become vicitims of society – pushed out because of their lack of conformity.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was inspired by, and written during this time.
In addition to his writing, Kesey became a notable counter-culture figure for his
involvement with the “Merry Pranksters.”
The Pranksters were a group of people who travelled the country in a psychedelic bus
called Further creating performances that promoted the use of hallucinogenic drugs
and confronted society's rules of convention and conformity. He was eventually
arrested for possession of marijuana in 1965 and served a five month jail sentence after faking his own suicide in attempt to avoid charges.
After this experience, he gave up his drug habit and eventually continued his writing
career. None of his later books were as commercially successful as One Flew Over the
Cuckoo’s Nest.
Kesey’s exploits as a Merry Prankster were chronicled in Tom Wolfe's The Electric
Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) and noted in poems by beat poet Allan Ginsberg.
Ken Kesey died on November 10th, 2001 at the age of 66.
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The Novel's background
It's a counter-culture protest novel, allegorical of society at the time.
The 1950s
The book was written and set in the 1950s. It was published in 1962.
At this time in America, people outside the mainstream were often viewed
with suspicion.
Why? Because of the Cold War and the Red Scare.
The Cold War
The US was engaged in a ‘cold war’ with the Soviet Union. Even
though no warfare was declared, things were tense between the
two countries.
(Note: today the Soviet Union does not exist)
Both countries had nuclear power and it was feared that
one or the other might use it.
USSR was communist and the US was scared that
communism would spread.
Anyone that appeared to be different was presumed
to be a supporter of communism and was
ostracised. They were called ‘reds’ and it was a
time of ‘red scare’.
What is the subtext of this poster?
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Joseph McCarthy
McCarthy was a republican senator who capitalized on
Cold War fears of Communism in the early 1950s by
accusing hundreds of government employees of being
Communists and Soviet Agents. McCarthy had no
evidence to prove communist affiliations, but the very
spectre of doubt was enough to pass judgment.
Many artists and writers were arrested and questioned
for having communist ties.
Playwright Arthur Miller was among the accused.
He depicted his own experience in his play,
The Crucible, likening McCarthyism to the Salem witch
hunt of the 1600s.
People in the USA became increasingly persecuted for their
beliefs under Senator McCarthy. This was called
McCarthyism.
Towards the end of the decade national rebellion began
against civil injustice. Young people, in particular began to
question authority.
One particular group of dissenters was the ‘beat generation’ –
they expressed dissatisfaction through art, writing, dress and
nonviolent action. They were called 'Beatniks'.
Beatniks!
Poetry readings were a common forum for
Beatniks to articulate their dissatisfaction
with society.
Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” (Look it up
on Wikipedia) illustrated what many people
saw as the moral and social problems of the
time.
Groups such as the Beats were a part of a
larger movement called the ‘counter-culture’.
This movement led to the emergence of
‘hippies’ in the 1960s. Hippies were
dedicated to peace, love, happiness and
they endeavoured to ‘expand their minds’
through the use of mind-altering drugs such
as LSD.
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FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
LSD
Ken Kesey took part in scientific experiments at a
hospital trialling LSD as a state controlled mind
altering substance. It was thought that it could
help those suffering mental disorders such as
schizophrenia. LSD was not so effective as a
medical panacea as it induced hallucinations.
To the counter-culture of the 1960s LSD was a
good thing; it helped hippies to explore their own
mind and expand their horizons.
Kesey and The Novel of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
! He had the novel published in 1962.It was met with immediate
success.
! Kesey bought a farm in California where he and his friends spent time
taking LSD. Known to the local authorities for his drug usage, the police
caught him flushing marijuana down his toilet. He fled to Mexico. When he
returned he was arrested and put into jail for several months.
! In 1964 Kesey and his friends took a road trip in a bus named Further
across the US. On the journey they continued to indulge in masses of
LSD and took part in subversive behaviour. The group called themselves
The Merry Pranksters and their adventures were captured in Tom Wolf’s
story The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. This book became a must-read for
the hippie generation.
When the book was first published, it was
well received by the critics and swiftly
gained popularity among students. One of
Kesey's former teachers commented in a
letter to Kesey that the book (which he read
in rough draft) contained "some of the most
brilliant scenes I have ever read" and
"passion like I've not seen in young writers
before." The Chicago Sunday Tribune critic
praised the novel for its brilliant mixture of
realism and myth, noting "this is an allegory
with a difference." Time Magazine praised
Kesey for both his power and humour,
describing the book as "a strong, warm
story about the nature of human good and
evil, despite the macabre setting."
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The Nursery Rhyme & Title
Tingle, Tingle, Tangle Toes
She's a good fisherman
Catches hens, puts 'em inna pens
Wier blier, limber lock
Three geese inna flock
One flew east, One flew west,
One flew over the cuckoo's nest
O-U-T spells out
Goose swoops down and plucks you out.
! On first reading, what does the nursery rhyme mean to
you?
! What do you know about the word ‘cuckoo’?
Cuckoos lay their eggs in other birds' nests and build
no nests of their own. The baby cuckoo is raised by
parents of a different species along with their own
babies but usually grows more quickly than its noncuckoo nest-mates and pushes them out to die. If
someone is called a cuckoo, they are being called
crazy.
The title refers to a shock-therapy-induced recollection in the
novel of a childhood game played by Chief Broom’s
grandmother.
Obviously, Nurse Ratched is the "good fisherman catch(ing)
hens..." and "...put(ing)'em inna pens." With respect to the
"Three geese inna flock," Kesey uses the chant to assert the
opposite polarities of Nurse Ratched & McMurphy.
The "east/west" polarity represents the opposite philosophies
and social-politics at the base of their conflict, and which
represents their respective ideas re: the individual's
relationship to the state/society.
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Themes
Themes in novels are never one word, they are an idea. Below are some
themes evident in the novel:
!
The emasculating power of women
!
Individuality & rebelling against 'the machine'
!
The importance of expressing sexuality
!
The nature of insanity
!
Laughter (perhaps a motif rather than a theme - see later)
The emasculating power of women
o Aside from the prostitutes women are seen as threatening and
controlling.
o Bromden and McMurphy attribute the suffering of the patients to the
emasculation and castration caused by Nurse Ratched.
o Fear of women is a central feature of the novel.
o Harding; “We are victims of a matriarchy here.”
o Rawler commits suicide by cutting off his own testicles. Bromden “all
the guy had to do was wait” implying that the institution would have
achieved the same in the long run.
o After McMurphy’s third EST Nurse Ratched recommends an
‘operation’. McMurphy jokes that she means castration. The lobotomy
achieves the same results.
Individuality & rebelling against 'the machine'
o The State is a machine that controls; mechanical imagery represents
modern society.
o The hospital is made of machinery and Blastic bleeds rust, not blood.
o Bromden was a pure natural spirit accustomed to hunting and reading
nature’s signs. This way of life is subverted by society when his fishing
village is converted into a profitable hydro-electric dam.
o McMurphy represents unbridled individuality that the rest of the
patients are in awe of. McMurphy fights to retain his individuality until he
can bring individuality to the others. Only then does society get the better
of him.
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The importance of expressing sexuality
o Kesey implies that an expression of sexuality is healthy.
o Most patients have warped sexual identities because of
relationships with damaging women.
o Owing to repressed sexuality, perverted sexual acts are made
implicit: the aides engage in ‘sex acts’ and it is suggested that they
rape patients.
o The ward is sexless until McMurphy appears and boasts of his
sexuality: he owns cards with 52 sexual positions, he’s slept with a
15 year old girl, and he wears Moby Dick boxer shorts. He first had
sex aged 10 with a girl even younger.
o McMurphy attempts to cure Billy of his stutter by arranging his
first sexual encounter.
The Nature of Insanity
o McMurphy’s sanity is expressed by his laughter, his sexual
appetite, size and confidence, yet he is considered insane by the
state.
o The institution is insanity.
o Throughout the novel the sane actions of the men are
contrasted with the insane actions of the institution.
Kesey asks us to question ‘what is crazy’? Bromden’s hallucinations
seem crazy, but they’re also very perceptive and insightful.
Laughter
!
!
!
!
Why is laughter such a motif of the book?
What does it mean for Kesey?
Is laughter a defence against insanity?
Laughter is rare till RPM arrives...
Research ‘Laughter'. Find out:
o Why do humans laugh?
o How is laughter powerful?
o When are you told not to laugh and why?
In the novel, on the fishing trip, all the men, including the
doctor, share real and deep laughter.
-
What is the significance of this?
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Working with the themes
An example of how literature students might organise their responses
to themes in the novel follows here:
The Symbolism of Machinery
Throughout the course of your reading, keep a log of quotations that support
the following statements. Using the bullet points as sub-headings, list the
quotations on paper, noting which page each is from, and under which subheading (statement) it belongs. Aim for 30 entries by the end of the novel – at
least one in each category.
!
Bromden’s fantasies are dominated by machines, as are the images of
the novel.
!
The machine is seen as the opposite of everything that is natural.
!
The “Combine,” the name the Chief gives to organized society, is a term
for a threshing machine, used for mowing down and harvesting wheat. How is
this image appropriate?
!
When the Big Nurse is angry she is compared to a diesel truck,
smelling of burning oil.
!
The machines in the stock shop are used to punish patients who step
out of line.
!
The fog machine is used to isolate and confuse patients.
!
Machines are installed in the walls of the ward, and even in the
patients themselves, to keep everything running according to the Combine’s
plan.
!
The machines are the images of the mechanical order which the
combine is attempting to impose on society; yet, paradoxically, they are
instruments of chaos, associated with destruction and confusion.
!
When the inmates travel outside the hospital they notice the
mechanical conformity that has been imposed upon the world during their
absence.
!
The absolute conformity of the machine is not order, but chaos
replicated over and over again with monotonous regularity.
Example:
Sub-heading
Quotation
Bromden's fantasies...
"Hum of black machinery, humming
Page No.
10
hate and death and other hospital
secrets"
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Motifs
Motifs are repeated structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help
to develop and inform the text’s major themes. They are similar to themes
but whereas a theme of ‘Cuckoo's Nest' could be 'the nature of insanity'; a
motif from the book would be ‘invisibility’. It sits at a lower level than the
theme.
A motif is also similar to a symbol, but more specifically, a motif is a
recurring... anything - imagery, action, feeling - that is used throughout a
whole book to support a theme.
Here are examples from the novel:
Invisibility
! Bromden tries to be as invisible as possible. He hides in fog,
and he avoids talking.
! The control of the combine is invisible.
! McMurphy smashes the glass. This symbolises to the
patients that while they may not see the control that society has on
them, it is there, and it can be smashed through.
Real v Imagined Size
! Bromden describes people by their true size, not their physical
size. Their size relates to their level of power.
! Bromden is six foot seven, but thinks he’s smaller than
everyone. He says that McMurphy is broad as ‘papa was tall’ and his
father’s name was 'The Pine that stands Tallest on the Mountain'.
The Hands
! For the hand motif, notice, for example, how the Chief describes
McMurphy's hands when he first comes to the ward. Hand
descriptions are there throughout the novel and can give insight
into different characters.
! Investigate other examples of use of the hand motif in the book.
y
ph
Fourblokes' actor: Jason Parker
R.P. M
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Symbols
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent
abstract ideas or concepts.
Fog Machine
! The ward is perpetually oppressed by a dense fog that Bromden
hides himself in.
! He believes that the fog is a mechanism used by the Nurse to control
the men and render them incapable of acting contrary to the way she
dictates. McMurphy drags each of them from that fog.
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
The EST Table
Associated with crucifixion.
It is shaped like a cross with straps across the wrists and over the
head.
Ellis, Ruckly and Taber, all acutes whose lives were destroyed by EST
stand as public examples of what happens to those that rebel against
society. Ellis is actually nailed to the wall – an explicit reference to
Christ’s crucifixion.
Symbol: Boxer Shorts
White whale: do some quick research on the great white whale
creation in literature - Moby Dick.
The whale is a phallic symbol which suggests McMurphy’s blatant
sexuality.
Also resonates with Cpt. Ahab’s
obsessive and futile pursuit of the whale.
Nurse Ratched is McMurphy’s futile
pursuit.
Moby Dick also stands for the power of
nature. McMurphy’s untamed nature
comes to conflict with the institution.
Using a graphic organiser, students could be asked to
make a chronological list of a motif or symbol's
appearance, context, and meaning throughout the
course of the novel.
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Religious Imagery
Throughout the book, McMurphy is presented very much as a Christ character,
and often without subtlety. Why and how? There are a lot of examples to draw on.
Consider:
- McMurphy is alluded to as a Christ figure. Examples?
- He becomes a martyr for the patients.
- How does Candy fit into all this?
- Ellis stands ‘crucified’ to the wall.
- Before the fishing trip Ellis shakes Billy’s hands and tells him to be a ‘fisher
of men’. It’s the phrase Christ used to his disciples to win people over as
converts.
- The fishing trip is the salvation of the men.
- Patients are 12 in number, same as the 12 disciples.
- When McMurphy is put on the EST table he says, ‘Anointest my head with
conductant. Do I get a crown of thorns?’
- Both McMurphy and Christ die to save others and give them hope.
Throughout the novel there are explicit references and allusions to the Bible. Why
do you think Kesey has done this? What does he imply by making connections
between religion, characters and the ward? The following section should
support discussion and close analysis in this religious context:
McMurphy as Comic Book Christ
The novel features many allusions and references to Christian religion. Most
obvious is McMurphy's martyrdom at the novel's climax. But this incident is
foreshadowed throughout the novel with a series of direct references to events
told in the New Testament.
His messianic qualities are apparent from his initial entrance into the ward.
His laughter — representative of the human spirit — is contrasted with the
sniggers the patients hide with their hands. The Combine traps their spirit.
McMurphy's laughter, however, is described by Chief Bromden as "free and loud
and it comes out of his wide grinning mouth and spreads in rings bigger and
bigger till it's lapping against the walls all over the ward". This sounds real. I
realize it's the first laugh I've heard in years."
Later, Chief describes McMurphy's laughter during the fishing excursion: "Rocking
farther and farther backward against the cabin top, spreading his laugh out across
the water — laughing at the girl, at the guys, at George, at me sucking my
bleeding thumb, at the captain back at the pier and the bicycle rider and the
service-station guys and the five thousand houses and the Big Nurse ... Because
he knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you... keep yourself in
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...He knows there's a painful side; he knows my thumb smarts and his girl friend
has a bruised breast and the doctor is losing his glasses, but he won't let the pain
blot out the humor no more'n he'll let the humor blot out the pain."
In the comic-book world created by Kesey, life is polarized between pain and
laughter, much like the Christian faith teaches that life is either sin or salvation. But
as the Christian faith preaches that all humans are sinners capable of salvation,
McMurphy instructs his disciples that life's miseries are redeemed through laughter,
which is depicted as the ultimate rebellion.
The first blatant reference to Jesus Christ occurs when Chief introduces the
Chronic patient Ellis. The recipient of many electroshock treatments, Ellis adopts a
pose of crucifixion by spreading his arms against the wall, reflecting the shape of
the electroshock table and directly alluding to Christ nailed to the cross. Chief
reemphasizes this posture when he relates Harding's explanation of electroshock
to McMurphy: "You are strapped to a table, shaped, ironically, like a cross, with a
crown of electric sparks in place of thorns."
Christ's sabbatical in the desert and triumphant return are reflected in McMurphy's
period of playing it safe and toeing the line to appease Nurse Ratched.
Christ's trial and punishment is echoed when McMurphy and Chief are removed to
the Disturbed Ward where a patient repeats the words of Christ's reluctant
adjudicator, Pontius Pilate: "I wash my hands"." McMurphy lies down arms
outspread on the table and refers to the administration of electroshock conductant
as the anointing of his head with "a crown of thorns."
Any reworking of the New Testament Gospels, however, would not be complete
without the inclusion of the Last Supper, a betrayal by a loyal follower, and death
and resurrection. The party held in the ward resembles Christ's Last Supper
complete with 'wine' — a narcotic cough syrup spiked with vodka — and the Mary
Magdalene-like presence of the two prostitutes Candy and Sandy.
Billy's betrayal does not lie so much in his attempts to lay the blame for his sexual
interlude with Candy on McMurphy as it does with his subsequent suicide. Judas
committed suicide after betraying Christ to the Roman soldiers. Billy, on the other
hand, betrays McMurphy by abandoning the spirit of rebellion and self-realization
by killing himself for fear of his mother's anger .
Realizing that his efforts will be forgotten if he simply escapes after Billy's suicide,
McMurphy attacks Ratched. This final, violent act — out of character with
Christianity — is the sacrifice McMurphy makes to guarantee his martyrdom.
Ratched cruelly lobotomizes him, depriving him of his very identity. Realizing this,
Chief suffocates him, escapes, and lives to relate his gospel of the life and works of
McMurphy.
Like the superheroes in comic books, however, McMurphy differs from Christ in
that he weakens as his followers grow stronger.
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More questions and work suggestions - aimed primarily at English
students, but adaptable for other disciplines & contexts
How does the symbolism of the Combine and
machinery in the novel echo language that has become
common in contemporary culture? (Consider a band
such as Rage Against The Machine or a Pink Floyd
song: "Welcome to the Machine"
Students might design a film poster that conveys
theme, plot, tone, and character of One Flew Over
The Cuckoo's Nest through the use of both
graphics and textual quotation.
How does the music of the 1960s express ideas
that are raised in Kesey's novel?
Students choose a particular moment in their chosen
character's timeline, that's of particular plot siginificance,
then write a journal, diary entries, or letter in the voice of
that character.
Students could create a mock Facebook page for "One Flew
Over The Cuckoo's Nest". Using Powerpoint or similar, create
'fake' Facebook status updates for at least five characters from
the novel, in chronological order of the plot narrative.
Students could write their own songs, poems or short
stories inspired by Kesey's 'Cuckoo'. These might be
anti-authority songs, (links to Bob Dylan?) or an elegy
to Billy Bibbit, or a sequel story telling of The Chief's
adventures in Canada.
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()*+,)')-. / 010!2$
Disability Equality Learning Objectives:
• to understand that most people with mental health issues are not violent, but are
often stereotyped as such and discriminated against;
• to develop an understanding that any long-stay hospital or prison can take away
people’s ability to act and think for themselves – they become institutionalised;
• to understand that alternatives to locking away people with mental health issues
exist, such as community care, therapeutic support, occupational therapy and
medication;
• to understand that how you feel about yourself and other people is important, and
that if you are not coping you should seek help and support from a sympathetic adult.
The Play's Learning Objectives:
• to understand representation of characters in a stage drama;
• to appreciate narrative style.
Possible Curriculum Objectives:
• Citizenship/PSHE – appreciating mental health issues.
Possible Further Curriculum Links:
• Media Studies – how the play depicts mental health through
narrative and characterisation;
• English – read extracts of the book and compare to sections in the play and film
versions. Note how the different media engage their audiences.
Note - The following activities are subject flexible - different subject area teachers
might consider adapting as suits curricular needs. Also, this pack can only scratch the
surface of potential teaching & learning activities, but the following should encourage
further development.
Activity 1
Teaching and Learning activity
Teach a lesson on mental health and get the class to discuss the type of situations that
may make it more likely that people will develop mental health issues.
Discuss with the class the idea of an institution, and institutionalisation, and the impact
these can have on ‘inmates’ ; compare this with more modern responses, such as care
in the community.
Note: There is fantastic teacher support re disability issues on the bfi website:
www.bfi.org.uk/diablingimagery?. Please do check it out!
Learning Outcomes
• Students learn about mental health issues and the kinds of situations that are most
likely to give rise to/exacerbate them.
• Students understand that caring for people with mental health issues in institutions is
not the only/best way to help them. Students appreciate what it means to become
institutionalised.
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Activity 2
Teaching and Learning activity
Before viewing an extract of the film that is most appropriate to the class, allow each
student to choose a character to focus on when viewing it. After viewing, discuss initial
reactions.
Watch the extract again and make notes on the interaction between the characters –
the differences and similarities between the way their mental health issues are
represented.
Discuss different forms of care, other than those depicted in the film, and decide which
may work best for each character.
Note:
Students could use the 'Comparing characters' sheet in student handouts on the bfi
website mentioned above.
Learning Outcomes
• Learn how stage and film characters are constructed to highlight social stereotypes in
order to motivate the narrative.
• Understand how other forms of care that don’t involve incarceration may be more
suitable for the characters in the play and film.
Activity 3
Teaching and Learning activity
Shine and A Beautiful Mind have more recently dealt with mental health issues.
Write a sympathetic scenario for a stage drama or film showing mental health issues of
a group of teenagers on a field trip:
Ask students to place the characters from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, or their
own set of characters, in the scenario of a field trip.
Students may work in groups or individually and must convey a sense of freedom for
the characters and a sense of community and teamwork.
Students may wish to use the following formats to convey the scenario:
1. Storyboard up to six important scenes from their scenario.
2. Script a short scene from the scenario to convey the above.
3. Write a synopsis of the overall scenario.
Note:
Students could use the Storyboard or Writing a scene or storyline handouts from the
student handouts on the bfi website.
Learning Outcomes
• Students are transferring one scenario depicting mental health into their own style of
scenario to convey a more positive representation of mental health.
• Students are using various forms to convey this information, depending on the
ability of the group.
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FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Why Was I In There? - (A personal account)
by Clare Allan
(Clare Allan broke down in her twenties and spent more than a year bewildered as a
psychiatric day-patient, but still found herself not wanting to leave.)
A little over a decade ago, I suffered a breakdown (whatever that means) and became a
patient at a psychiatric day hospital. I spent the 18 months that followed, sitting in a common
room with my fellow patients, smoking.
Looking back, it’s hard to see just how we got through so much time. It’s true that there
were occasional groups, although these were often cancelled, and once a week we would
spend an hour in a one-to-one session with our “care co-coordinator”. I never worked out
what these sessions were supposed to entail. They weren’t intended as “therapy” or
“counseling” but all requests to be told what the sessions were for would be met with the
Kafkaesque response “That’s for you to tell me.” For the rest of the time from 9:30 am till 4:00
pm, five days a week, we sat in the common room, smoking.
I was a new kid on the block, barely a fledgling in day-patient terms - there were plenty of
patients who’d been there for ten years and more. My health deteriorated rapidly, to the point
where I was sectioned and put on the wards. I begged for my place at the day hospital to be
held open for my return. I couldn’t imagine how I’d survive without it. When, six months later,
I was finally discharged, it felt like the end of the world.
Looking back, this interests me. Why was it that I was so desperate to stay in a place that
not only was failing to help, but was actually making things worse? The answer, I believe, lies
in the very human need to belong to something. When I became ill, I became extremely
isolated. I stopped working, lost touch with my family and friends and spent my days pacing
the streets.
Moreover, a major factor in my breakdown was my sense of not belonging, of somehow
not being able to find a space to exist in the world. The day hospital offered me such a space,
a label, a place to belong. The only requirement was I must remain ill - this seemed a price
worth paying.
At the day hospital, we never discussed the future. But if mental health services want
people to get better, it’s vital to help them to build a life beyond the common room, a bridge to
the world outside.
Clare Allan’s debut novel: Poppy Shakespeare, a black comedy set in the
psychiatric ward of a day hospital and inspired by her experience of being a psychiatric
patient, was long-listed for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction and short-listed for
the BT Mind Book of the Year Award, 2007. It's now been made into an energetic
Channel 4 film, starring Anna Maxwell Martin and Naomie Harris.
"What I've learnt from being in the system is
that there's a seed of mental illness in everyone," says Clare
"I think people often
feel a bit short-changed when
they meet me," says Clare "That I'm
not doing the shuffling, dribbling thing. Or
wielding an axe."
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The Film
Lasting impact?... From The Telegraph: By Jon Swaine 01 Feb 2011
As well as being regarded as a classic novel
and film, 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'
is generally considered to have left a lasting
impact on the field of psychiatry.
Ken Kesey's 1962 book, and the film version
released 13 years later, are both credited with
irreparably tarnishing the image of
electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, and
quickening its departure from mainstream
mental health care.
In the story, R.P. McMurphy – played by Jack Nicholson in the film – is a misbehaved
convict who ends up in an asylum after faking insanity to escape hard labour while in
prison. Like other patients in the facility, he finds himself subjected to ECT.
In the famous words of Nurse Ratched, the treatment "might be said to do the work of
the sleeping pill, the electric chair and the torture rack. It's a clever little procedure,
simple, quick, nearly painless it happens so fast, but no one ever wants another one.
Ever."
Dr. Frank Pittman, the renowned American psychiatrist, has said the publication of
the book "had an enormous effect" on his field.
"It gave voice, gave life, to a basic distrust of the way in which psychiatry was being
used for scoiety's purposes, rather than the purposes of the people who had mental
illness," Dr Pittman told The Discovery Channel.
"Back in my training in the early 60s, we gave shock treatment, particularly at that
time as a treatment for agitated depression. It worked more quickly than the drugs we
had then – more quickly than the drugs we have now – but it left me squeamish. The
brain is much too delicate, much too mysterious, for us to mess with."
The book's publication contributed to a backlash against the entire psychiatric
treatment system in the US in the 1960s. Huge, spirit-crushing state institutions – like
the Oregon facility later depicted in the film – began reducing their excessive resident
numbers and granting patients more rights.
It also catalysed the development of more effective anti-psychotic drugs that allowed
more patients to be treated at home and live more normal lives.
Amid a minor revival in ECT in the early 1990s, The New York Times noted that thanks
to the film's memorable images, "in the public mind 'shock therapy' has retained the
tarnished image given it by Ken Kesey's novel: dangerous, inhumane and over-used".
Yet for many mental health professionals the book and film also had a negative
effect. A 1983 study involving 146 university students found "considerable
negative changes in attitude" towards people with mental health problems
among those who had seen the film.
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McMurphy's Cinematic Brothers in Rebellion
Introduction
The character of Randle Patrick McMurphy shares many similarities with other cinematic
figures of the past 50 years. Many cult films have embraced the themes of rebellion against
repression found in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. These works are often set in enclosed
spaces, such as seagoing vessels and prisons, to present a small microcosm of humanity
that contrasts rigid authority with the free-spirited nature of the works' respective protagonists.
Mr. Roberts
McMurphy's rebellious and messianic qualities and subsequent martyrdom resemble the
character Mr. Roberts in the stage play and film adaptation of Mr. Roberts. In the film,
Roberts (played by Henry Fonda) is assigned to a supply ship during World War II. Roberts
longs to see battle in the South Pacific, but his captain (played by James Cagney) refuses to
approve his transfer. The captain is a one-dimensional tyrant and is challenged continuously
by Roberts.
Much like McMurphy, Roberts also experiences a period where he yields to the authority
wielded by a tyrant. When Roberts finally receives his transfer, his rebellious spirit lives on in
his replacement, Ensign Pulver (played by Jack Lemmon), who adopts the mantle of crew
spokesperson upon hearing of Roberts' heroic death in battle.
Cool Hand Luke
While the similarities between Jesus Christ and Mr. Roberts are subtle, they are far more
pronounced in the title character Paul Newman portrays in the film Cool Hand Luke.
Sentenced to a chain gang for cutting the tops off a town's parking meters, Luke galvanizes
his fellow prisoners by challenging them to join him in his thwarting
the abusive authority of the warden (played by Strother Martin).
Much like the fishing excursion in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
served to build the patients' allegiance to McMurphy, the characters
in Cool Hand Luke come to revere Luke when he attempts to eat
fifty raw eggs to win a bet. This results in the prisoners bonding
together to assert their own humanity.
Elsewhere in the film, Luke endures prolonged solitary
confinements to a box where he bakes in the hot Southern work
farm sun, resembling Jesus Christ's forty days of fasting and prayer
in the desert.
A consistent visual motif displays Luke against images of a crucifix,
especially the crossed roads on which the chain gang labors.
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FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
The Shawshank Redemption
Based upon a short story by Stephen King, the film The Shawshank Redemption is also set
in a prison. The prisoners learn to reject fear and that "hope can set you free" through the
examples set by the inmate Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robbins). Among other things,
Dufresne lobbies for a prison library that enables the prisoners to ennoble themselves with
literature, classical music, and opera. In a much more secular vein, however, The
Shawshank Redemption allows its protagonist to live after he escapes through ingenuous
means.
Fight Club
The 1999 film Fight Club also bears many similarities to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
In the film, the characters Jack (played by Edward Norton) and Tyler Durden (played by
Brad Pitt) rail against a society of rampant self-centeredness and consumerism. "Self
improvement is masturbation," Durden tells Jack, a character formerly obsessed with the
accumulation of designer brand furniture to fill the void of his otherwise meaningless
existence.
In an effort to find sincerity and human connection, the healthy and unaddicted Jack attends
various support groups and 12-step programs. He agrees with another "faker," a woman
named Marla Singer (played by Helena Bonham Carter), that people actually listen to other
people speak only when they think the speaker is terminally ill.
But these groups serve to weaken men further because they encourage a level of sensitivity
that can only be described as feminine. Coincidentally, the group that Jack feels closest to is
a collective of testicular cancer patients — men emasculated by disease and the removal of
their testicles. The member of the group with the closest connection to Jack is Robert
Paulsen (played by Meat Loaf), a former bodybuilder whose cancer was brought on by the
use of steroids. Paulsen's treatment, however, has raised his body's estrogen level, causing
him to grow breasts.
Durden's perception that contemporary American males have become increasingly more
feminized as a result of being "a generation of men raised by women," also hearkens to
McMurphy's attacks on "ball-cutters." Instead of marrying, Durden advises Jack to live life to
its fullest by participating in rebellious acts, including graphic fights that enable the fighters
to regain a semblance of masculinity. The mayhem perpetrated by Durden and his followers,
however, quickly escalates into a fascistic, proletarian movement bent upon total societal
annihilation.
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And finally... 10 Trivia Facts about the 1975 film
1. The book on which the movie is based took three years to get published.
Although Ken Kesey wrote his novel in 1959, it was not until 1962 when it was
published by Viking Press and Signet books. A Broadway play was produced much
quicker, only one year later in 1963, and has been revived on a number of occasions
both in the US and here in the UK.
2. An Oscar-winning actress is an extra in this movie.
Angelica Huston appears as one of the crowd standing on the pier when the boat
returns from the fishing trip. Huston had been romantically linked to Jack Nicholson for
a 16-year period from 1973 to 1989 and they appeared in other films together, most
notably her Academy Award-winning performance co-starring in 1985's Prizzi’s Honor.
3. This movie was the film debut for a popular actor from a TV sitcom.
Christopher Lloyd’s role as the wild inmate was his first credited screen role. He is
perhaps more familiar as 'Doc' in Back to the Futuret. Danny DeVito, Lloyd's co-star in
the long running TV series Taxi, also appeared in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
without much previous screen credit. DeVito, however, had a prior connection to the
movie, since he played his part in the off-Broadway revival version of the play in 1971.
4. This was the female lead’s first major film role.
Filming was just about ready to start with only a week to go when Louise Fletcher
found out she got the part of Nurse Ratched. Milos Forman had auditioned her many
times but told her he didn't think she was getting the right feel of her character, yet he
continued to call her back. At the time, Louise was set to join the cast of Robert
Altman's Nashville and Lily Tomlin was already preparing to play Nurse Ratched, but
ultimately both directors agreed the roles in the two films should be reversed.
Other more experienced actresses were all offered the role as the cold-hearted nurse
before her, including Ellen Burstyn, Anne Bancroft, Geraldine Page, Colleen Dewhurst,
Angela Lansbury and Jane Fonda. It is said that Louise Fletcher had no idea that the
role of Nurse Ratched was so coveted until a reporter casually mentioned it.
When the film wrapped, Louise, who had been so unhappy during filming that all of the
other cast members were able to joke around and be frivolous contrasted to her
required icy demeanor, took off her clothes down to her pants just to show her fellow
actors that she was not a monster and did in fact have a light side.
5. Ken Kesey never watched the completed film version.
He based his novel on what he experienced first hand at a veterans hospital in
California. After selling the rights, he became embittered because he felt the story was
being butchered. He was so incensed, he brought a law suit against the film's
producers because the movie was so far from the novel's intent. Kesey claims that
many years later, while he was channel surfing, he stopped to watch a movie
which seemed like one he might like, and after a few minutes recognized his
movie... he quickly changed the station and never saw it before he died..
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© FOURBLOKES THEATRE CO. 2011
FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
6. Only one other film reached this Oscar achievement before 'Cuckoo'.
A "grand slam" of the Oscars is when a film wins Academy Awards in each of the five
major categories and although it is rare in Hollywood, it does happen.
The first movie to win all five awards for Best
Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best
Actor and Best Actress was It Happened One
Night in1934. Not until 41 years later did it
happen again with One Flew Over The
Cuckoo's Nest in 1975.
The third time it happened was 15 years later,
with 1990's The Silence of the Lambs. The
King’s Speech in 2011 came close with 4 top
Oscars! (Which one is missing?)
7. Two of the producers are film stars, and are also related.
The film rights were owned by Kirk Douglas, having made the purchase many years
before when he starred as McMurphy in the 1963 Broadway version. That play also
starred William Daniels, Gene Wilder and Ed Ames (as Chief Bromden). Douglas
bought the rights planning on starring in the movie himself, but as the years passed
and after every major movie studio turned down the project, he realized he was past
the age for the part. Douglas met Milos Forman in Prague and had the feeling that he
would be the ideal director for his movie. Eventually he assigned the rights to his son
Michael Douglas who jointly produced the film with his dad and Saul Zaentz. The
screenplay was originally written by the author Ken Kesey, but Forman and Kesey
could never see eye to eye on the production and Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman
were brought in.
8. Many extras used in the filming were from the actual filming location.
The film was shot on location at the Oregon State Mental Hospital. Many of the extras
seen in the movie were actual patients from that hospital. The mental patients and the
cast members as well as the crew all learned to get along with each other and it
became a professional working environment. During production, a window was left
open on the second floor by one of the crew resulting in a patient falling to the ground
and getting injured. A local newspaper, The Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon,
carried the story the next day about what happened featuring the front page headline,
"ONE FLEW OUT OF THE CUCKOO'S NEST."
9. This was the first Oscar win for the director of this film.
Having directed relatively few films, Milos Forman has an amazing track record, having
been nominated for three Academy Awards. He won two Oscars for Best Director: One
Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest in 1975 and Amadeus in 1984. His list of
accomplishments is filled with such popular films as Loves Of A Blonde, Ragtime, Hair,
Visions of Eight and Valmont.
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© FOURBLOKES THEATRE CO. 2011
FOURBLOKES Theatre Company's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
10. The star of the film is an avid basketball fan.
It is well-known that Jack Nicholson is an
avid Los Angeles Lakers fan and tries to
never miss a home game. When on a film
shoot, the producers of his projects
understand they need to coordinate shooting
schedules around the Lakers' season. Oddly
enough, although attending games keeps
Nicholson very much in the public eye, he
shys away from interviews and hasn't done
a talk show since 1971.
And some more casting trivia -- according to Hollywood gossip, Oscar winners Gene
Hackman and Marlon Brando were both offered the part of R.P. McMurphy before it
was given to Jack Nicholson, and it's been said that director Milos Forman really
wanted Burt Reynolds over all of them...
So that's it. Lots to look at, and dip into, whatever
your teaching discipline - lots more to further research for
deeper intent or more specific purpose, but if this pack
supports and enhances your teaching approaches then we're
content. Please let us have any feedback through our website
(www.fourblokes.com) and feel free to spread the word
about the FOURBLOKES experience!
Thanks again for your interest and support, and for all the
many requests, advice, raw ideas and positive comments we
receive continually from colleagues in the education world.
Look out for next year's FOURBLOKES production - already in
the early planning stage - it's Shelagh Stephenson's poignant
comedy: The Memory of Water.
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