Review: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by La Bête Productions

by Donna Provencher
Published on August 16, 2026

Blake Hammam Hamman directs cogent and thoughtful restraint, trusting the material rather than embellishing it. A strong ensemble centered on Kevin Engel as sane hustler Randal Murphy and Belinda Harolds as a beautifully restrained and nuance Nurse Ratched.

  There is a version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest that is very easy to stage badly. Some productions are loud and lurid and uncomplicated, with McMurphy as the swaggering folk hero, Nurse Ratched as the emasculating monster, the men of the ward sane people imprisoned by a cruel system, as everything barrels inevitably toward tragedy we can see coming from 500 paces. Blake Hamman’s production for La Bête Productions is intentionally smarter than …

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