A ‘Nest’ full of vivid, vibrant characters

Randle P. McMurphy is universally identified with Jack Nicholson, but in the Spokane Civic Theatre’s fine, fast-moving version of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” we get an intriguingly different kind of McMurphy.

Don’t get me wrong. George Green has plenty of Nicholson in his wise-guy grin and salacious leer. But Green also adds a few other apt touches: a dash of De Niro swagger (complete with lolling tongue); a hint of Jim Carrey comic goofiness and, most effectively, a large helping of old-fashioned John McEnroe brattiness (from McEnroe’s High Brat period).

Green, under the direction of Yvonne A.K. Johnson, creates a character who perfectly serves the dual demands of this classic Ken Kesey story. McMurphy has to be so charming and full of fun that we understand why the other ward inmates fall happily under his spell. Yet he also has to be so obnoxious, grating and irresponsible that we understand why Nurse Ratched feels he requires a surgical form of attitude adjustment.

We understand her decision, but we certainly don’t condone it. The end of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” has lost none of its tragic power since the book came out in 1962 and the Dale Wasserman stage adaptation hit Broadway in 1963.

This “Cuckoo” production has another great strength: An exceptionally well-cast group of supporting actors. McMurphy is thrown into an Oregon mental ward that contains seven other men with various degrees of psychosis, played by Thomas Heppler, Gary Pierce, Paul Villabrille, J.P. O’Shaughnessy, Todd Kehne, William R. Lund and Phillip Craig Maier.

Every one emerges as a vivid, distinct and three-dimensional character – and this is not the case in every “Cuckoo’s Nest” production. Too often, these characters become nothing but caricatures of their afflictions (the stutterer, etc.).

Here, though, each of these people emerges as a fully formed human – they are humans with problems, sometimes serious problems, but humans who are not just the sum of their problems. Heppler, Pierce and Villabrille are particularly good at crafting these characters, but really, there are no weaknesses in the cast.

Lund deserves special notice for his dignified, yet heart-wrenching portrayal of Chief Bromden, the giant Columbia River Indian around whom much of the plot turns. Bromden serves as a kind of Greek chorus, occasionally interrupting the story to deliver poetic incantations reflecting on his own plight and that of his people.

Chasity Kohlman is appropriately stern and unbending as Nurse Ratched. Wasserman’s stage adaptation, however, isn’t nearly as good as the 1976 movie at developing the character of Nurse Ratched. Here, she serves strictly as a rigid and cold authority figure.

The Civic plans to abridge this production as its competition piece and take it to – if all goes well – national finals. My guess is that it will be a strong contender, combining comedy with emotional impact.

In creating a mental ward full of vivid and sympathetic characters, Johnson has done more than make good theater. She has zeroed in on the key point of Kesey’s novel: The “insane” are not just patients. They are fully formed human beings, deserving of just as much respect, consideration and dignity as anyone. And all too often, they don’t get it.