We take a look at what is being said about Clint Dyer’s production of Ken Kesey’s story.
The Guardian: *** “The patients navigate flurries of distress and delirium: the strong ensemble, led by Terera’s refined Dale Harding, a paisley robe over his uniform, creates an unobtrusive patina of tics and deflections. Dyer bookends his production by invoking Congo Square in New Orleans, a historic site of celebration and resistance for Black and Indigenous people. His crackling version sees the play’s cruelties through their eyes – but it’s very much the male gaze.”
The Telegraph: **** “Clint Dyer’s innovative production, starring Aaron Pierre and Olivia Williams, serves as a chilling reminder of the cost of dissent.”
Time Out: “It’s a really interesting idea, with a mostly great cast, of a historically significant play that I can’t imagine getting revived again any time soon. Go in with a spirit of adventure and an affordable ticket and I don’t think you’ll feel you’ve wasted your time. But the bottom line is: it just doesn’t work.”
Theatre & Tonic: **** “Over sixty years on from its first staging, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest still has the ability to shock with themes that still feel very relevant – mental health, incarceration and punishment, suppression, freedom, identity and empowerment. Despite these challenging themes, it’s very entertaining and builds to a powerful and fitting climax that will certainly have audiences on the edge of their seats.”
WhatsOnStage: ***** “This is not a production that leans on legacy. It stands firmly on its own terms while paying quiet, confident homage to what came before. Bold, precise and deeply affecting, it grips from first beat to final silence, powered by a company firing on every level.”
All That Dazzles: ***** “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest has captivated audiences for 66 years. There is the question of how you can bring something new and different to the story in 2026, while retaining the essence of the original? The answer is here, through Clint Dyer’s breathtakingly brilliant production.”
The Standard: *** “The show is a full-on onslaught with little modulation, compelling but exhausting. And throughout there’s the creeping awareness that Kesey and Wasserman partly romanticise mental illness and also use it for comic purposes. Like I say: problematic.”
The Stage: *** “Colonialist reworking of the dated psychiatric drama starring Aaron Pierre and Giles Terera never quite finds its focus.”
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