When Randle P McMurphy is thrust into an American psychiatric hospital in the early 1960s, the torpid air begins to crackle. As the anarchic McMurphy, Aaron Pierre gives a storming performance but although Clint Dyer’s stirring take on Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel boldly reframes the story, the text can’t support his ideas.
McMurphy immediately locks horns with authoritarian Nurse Ratched (Olivia Williams). He pivots and provokes, urging fellow patients to resist, play and party. Pierre roams the space with a pumped-up strut or an incongruous dainty scamper. He gives good fraternal hugs, but there’s a frantic vulnerability beneath the booming laugh.
