Given the strong acting, brilliant set design, and evocative lighting, opening night of the Portland Center Stage’s production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was a success that will only grow stronger with each performance. Director Rose Riordan does an excellent job of infusing fresh energy into a play that has become a mainstay of the American stage. She and her accomplished actors have put their unique stamp on an American classic that explores the conflict between the individual and an oppressive authority whose purpose is to subdue the spirit through a rigid adherence to rules. And nowhere is this more evident than in the state mental hospital where patients are subjected to vapid elevator-music as they ingest daily doses of medication that leaves them listless and submissive, wasting their unlived lives in the mindless routine of the ward. All under the watchful eye of Nurse Ratched, the Big Nurse, for it is she who controls the ward. That is until the arrival of one Randle Patrick McMurphy.

It must be daunting for any actor to assume the role of McMurphy when it is so closely associated with Jack Nicholson’s performance in the 1975 movie. When Mac first appears in the ward I thought of Nicholson, and it took me a bit to warm up to PJ Sosko. His “good ole boy” demeanor lacked a bit of the swagger, the con-man-glint-in-the-eye, bawdy, boisterous behavior. But I soon realized he wasn’t playing Nicholson, he was playing McMurphy. This was clear when Sosko, as Mac, new to the ward, observes the catatonic Chief Bromden scraping gum from a chair. He gently offers the hulking Chief a stick of fresh gum. A simple but revealing act: Mac is not just about swagger, spontaneity, and rebellion. Beneath the male bravado is a human being capable of compassion, in stark contrast to Nurse Ratched, who cares only to control.

Mac feigns mental illness to avoid working at the prison work farm. His history of petty crime ranges from assault to statutory rape; however, as Mac is quick to point out, “I like to fight and fuck… and she was very willing, if you know what I mean.”

Stephen Caffrey

During Mac’s first therapy session, Nurse Ratched asks Harding, one of the inmates, to explain the importance of group therapy to McMurphy. Harding, played by Tour of Duty’s Stephen Caffrey, postures as an intellectual but is weak and ineffectual, all bombast and bluster. He explains that the group represents a microcosm of society in which rules are made to be followed to ensure order, and that the sessions are to help inmates overcome their problems so they can get healthy and rejoin society. When McMurphy questions the rules, Billy, a shy, stammering inmate, explains that Nurse Ratched creates the rules because she cares for them. Mac disagrees and calls the nurse a “ball cutter.” In this ward the meek inherit nothing. And from there the contest ensues between Nurse Ratched and Mac, two strong-willed individuals with very different perceptions: one affirming life, the other suppressing it.

The ward is comprised of two groups of inmates: the “curables” who are by their own admission “weak” and incapable of functioning outside the ward, and the “chronics” who have been subjected to multiple electro-shock treatments and/or lobotomies. They exist on the ward as vapors, protoplasm, vegetables, for as one of the curables explains: “No one lives there anymore.”

The curables include beside Harding and Billy Babbitt, the impish Italian Martini, Scanlon the doomsayer, and Cheswick, the shrill-voiced, fat, balding neurotic Cheese Puff. The actors portraying the curables do an excellent job with the various quirks, tics, and idiosyncrasies , but I found myself fastened on the mannerisms of Cheswick. Craig Bockhorn’s antics as Cheswick are hysterical. During the therapy session he garned the first laughs by mocking Harding’s failure as a husband as the session dissolved into chaos. Also commendable was Ryan Tresser’s portrayal of the shy, virginal, insecure Billy Babbitt. His final scene with Nurse Ratched was as hard to watch as it was moving – very powerful. All the actors are impressive. Gretchen Corbett as Nurse Ratched coolly controls the ward with a condescending voice void of passion or feelings. She has no interest in a “cure” for the inmates. Her interest lies solely in a strict adherence to the rules. For without rules, chaos reigns. She controls the imates by using their weaknesses to humiliate them, and she is deviously cunning in her attempt to turn the inmates against Mac.

Tim Sampson is excellent as Chief Bromden. He is the son of Will Sampson who played the Chief in the 1975 movie. One scene among many is memorable: Mac needs all the votes of the curables in order to watch the World Series. Even though they all raise their hands Nurse Ratched refuses the privilege because she declares “all the inmates on the floor have to agree.” The inmates now notice the Chief seemingly comatose over his broom. Like Mac says, “She likes a rigged game.” But Mac is persistent and encourages the Chief to raise his arm, but to no avail. Mac withdraws and slumps in a chair. The inmates carry on as they are used to disappointment and failure. The Chief stands apart from them. And then slowly, ever so slowly, his arm begins to rise. The inmates watch in wonder as the Chief’s arm goes up. The ward erupts. The curables unite with Mac, and the Big Nurse’s authority is temporarily usurped. Consequences will occur.

A play succeeds by the strength of its story and not necessarily by its stage dressing. Cuckoo’s Nest remains a compelling story and succeeds, but in this production the stage dressing enhances the success. The set designed by Tony Cisek is a remarkable replica of the interior of a state mental hospital. Center stage serves as the day room, which the inmates use for recreation and the group sessions. Overlooking the day room is the Nurses’ Station, with its menacing and ubiquitous red lights glaring from the control panel. From here the staff dispenses meds, plays insipid music, and regulates the rigid schedule. The lighting, designed by Diane Ferry Williams, is highly effective from the brilliant white glare that bathes Nurse Ratched to the shadows that haunt during the Chief’s monologues. All this combined with the subtle but effective sound effects, contributes to an outstanding evening of theater. Kudos to The Portland Center Stage for providing a thoughtful, entertaining, and professional production that succeeds on so many levels.

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”
When: Opens 7:30 p.m. Friday, continues 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays through March 27
Where: Gerding Theater, 128 N.W. 11th Ave.
Tickets: $33 and up (student discounts and rush tickets also available), 503-445-3700 or pcs.org