One flew over the cuckoo's nest (play)

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Scene from a theatrical performance of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , January 27, 2014

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Original title: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) is a 1963 first performed the play based on the novel of the same of the US writer and conceptual artist Ken Kesey received, the discussions appeared in the previous year, mostly positive and a surprising sales success was . The stage version was written by Dale Wasserman . The music of the piece comes from Teiji Ito .

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The play focuses on life in a psychiatric ward that is under the tyranny of the head nurse Ratched. The main character of the plot is the rebellious Randle Patrick McMurphy, who is admitted to the institution at the beginning of the plot. McMurphy has been sentenced to several months in prison for violence and gambling, and simulates mental illness to avoid working on the prison farm. McMurphy experiences the institution as an inhumane system. The inmates are immobilized with medication and electric shocks, and any attempt at independence is nipped in the bud. McMurphy makes it a sport to challenge Head Nurse Ratched and even bets his fellow inmates as to when he'll have worn them out. McMurphy makes his fellow inmates aware of the way in which they are incited by Head Nurse Ratched to humiliate and expose each other. The power struggle between McMurphy and Head Nurse Ratched ends with McMurphy having a lobotomy . Chief Bromden, another inmate, suffocates him with a pillow and escapes from the institution.

History of origin

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was Ken Kesey's first published novel. In 1959, while working on another novel and suffering from a lack of funds, he participated in the CIA's MKULTRA research program at Veterans Hospital in Menlo Park, California , which tested the effects of psychoactive drugs. A little later he worked at the same hospital as a temporary worker in a psychiatric ward. Both experiences influenced the creation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . The novel was published in 1962, received positive reviews, and was an instant hit. Kirk Douglas acquired the theater and film rights shortly after the novel was published. Dale Wassermann's theatrical version had a preview on November 12, 1963 and the official world premiere the next day. It was played on Broadway until January 25, 1964 and performed 83 times, including the preview. Kirk Douglas played Randle Patrick McMurphy in this version, Gene Wilder played the young Billy Bibbit, William Daniels Harding and Ed Ames played the half-Indian Chief Bromden.

Re-performances

The play has only been performed a few times by major theaters and / or with well-known actors. In 1971 there was an off-Broadway performance in which Danny DeVito played the character of Martini, which resulted in his being given the same role in the film version a few years later. In 2001 there was another Broadway performance with Gary Sinise as McMurphy. The Steppenwolf Theater Company production won a Tony Award for Best Revival. Directed by Terry Kinney and starring alongside Gary Sinise, Amy Morton (head nurse Ratched ), Tim Sampson , Eric Johner and Ross Lehman played .

The British premiere of the play did not take place until April 1988. The place of performance was the Playhouse Theater, the production company of the London performance was Cuckoo Productions, which had been founded for this purpose by Diane Hilton , Karin Parnaby and Judy Kershaw . She was able to raise £ 100,000 for the performance in 24 hours.

In Germany, the play was performed by the Mecklenburg State Theater in Schwerin from 2007 to 2009, and it has been running at the German-Sorbian People's Theater in Bautzen since 2015.

filming

Kirk Douglas, who had bought the rights to the theater production and a possible film adaptation shortly after the novel was published, did not succeed in getting a studio enthusiastic about the film adaptation of the material. He eventually left the film rights to his son Michael Douglas . Michael Douglas co-produced the film based on the novel with Saul Zaentz and released it in 1975. The production was carried out with Fantasy Films , which had a distribution agreement with United Artists . The film received a number of awards including five Academy Awards : Best Picture, Best Director ( Miloš Forman ), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor ( Jack Nicholson ), Best Actress ( Louise Fletcher ). After It Happened in One Night (1935) by Frank Capra, the film was the second film to win an Oscar in the five most important categories - the so-called Big Five . One flew over the cuckoo's nest not only cemented Jack Nicholson's reputation as a character actor, but also helped several actors to breakthrough: Christopher Lloyd ( Back to the Future I – III), Brad Dourif and Danny DeVito made their debut in this film. Kirk Douglas, who played the role of McMurphy at the premiere, was considered too old for the role when the film was made.

The script for the film was not based on the play, but was developed on the basis of the novel.

Theater version

  • Dale Wasserman: One flew over the cuckoo's nest. One piece in 2 acts . Based on the novel by Ken Kesey . (Original title: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest ). German by Jürgen Fischer. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1976, 131 pp.

Novel

Web links

Single receipts

  1. ↑ IBDB entry
  2. ↑ Introduction to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , Penguin Books (E-book); ISBN 978-1-1012-0904-2 , p. 303.