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It’s no mystery why the role of Randle P. McMurphy in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Dale Wasserman’s stage adaptation of the Ken Kesey novel, is considered a plum. To play the outrageously antic, anti-authority troublemaker who contrives to serve a short prison sentence in a mental institution to escape the drudgery of the work farm is one of those opportunities to grow and shine as an actor that is reserved for a lucky few.
That’s why Joe Pallister was so determined to audition for the part in the Hampton Theatre Company’s production of the play opening on Thursday, March 25, at the Quogue Community Hall that he dashed off to Quogue for auditions while he was still in rehearsals for another play.
“I was in the middle of doing ‘Twelve Angry Men,’” Mr. Pallister recalled during a recent interview, “and I had to rush back to rehearsal, but I knew every guy would be there.”
That was exactly what happened, as HTC Executive Director Sarah Hunnewell, who directs this production, later confirmed. “There were lots of guys who wanted to be in it,” she said. “The turnout was huge.”
Mr. Pallister landed the part and clearly possesses the vibrant physicality and self-confidence that it would seem to require. But he does not dismiss the role’s potential pitfalls for an actor.
“It’s a tough role for a number of reasons,” he said, citing Jack Nicholson’s unforgettable performance in the movie version as “the most obvious.”
Nicholson’s McMurphy is “in everyone’s psyche,” he said. His own memory of the performance remains “very vivid,” he added, though it has been a good 15 years since he saw the movie.
To leave those memories behind and find his own McMurphy has been challenging, but also exciting.
“I guess it breaks down to finding the humanity in the character and trying to make that as real as possible,” he said, adding, “No matter who it is, even the biggest villain in the world is still human.” His job, he suggested, was to discover what drives McMurphy and bring him to life.
What he discovered was that McMurphy’s behavior springs from the problem he has fitting in, no matter where he is—“even in prison.” Inevitably, his notion that a mental institution will be a better fit for a short stay turns out to be a miscalculation—one that has hilarious as well as tragic results.
Authority in the person of the loathsome martinet, Nurse Ratched (Birgitta Millard), wastes no time in asserting itself and McMurphy reacts with inspired rebelliousness, urging his fellow inmates on to ever more outrageous insurgency.
And yet, beneath the swagger and despite the cruelty he is capable of, Randle P. McMurphy reveals another side of himself in the course of the play.
“As rough as McMurphy is,” said Mr. Pallister, “he nurtures, which is what makes him such a great character to play.”
Chief Bromden (Edward A. Brennan), an apparent mute whom McMurphy finds tied down in a chair, is the first to benefit. McMurphy is outraged at the indignity and unties the Chief before befriending him. Billy Bibbit (William Harley), a stuttering victim of an overbearing mother, is defended by McMurphy and one-by-one, the effects of this merry troublemaker are felt by each of the inmates: the anxious and effete Dale Harding (Andrew Botsford), the childish and ineffective loudmouth Charles Cheswick (George A. Loizides), the obsessive and schizophrenic Frank Scanlon (James Ewing), the hyper Anthony Martini (Leonardo Liguori), and the hypered-down, lobotomized Ruckley (Vincent Rasulo).
Misfits all, they are stirred from their submissiveness in the presence of this swaggering subversive and the revolt that ensues is a heady challenge to the control-freak Nurse Ratched and her cohorts, an unwholesome bunch that includes Ratched’s theoretical boss, Dr. Spivey (Terrance Fiore), her assistant, Nurse Flinn (Jessica Howard), aides (David Adams and Roggie Pettaway) and electroshock technician (Kevin O’Reilly). Rounding out the cast are McMurphy’s visitors, two jovial hookers named Candy and Sandra (Rosemary Cline and Kristi Artinian).
“It’s a huge cast, which makes the logistics a huge challenge,” Mr. Pallister acknowledged, though he was quick to add his view that the Hampton Theatre Company is an extraordinarily professional operation that handles all that with remarkable efficiency.
He also has high praise for the space in Quogue Community Hall.
Having spent 18 years as an actor in New York City before returning to his native Hampton Bays, Mr. Pallister still marvels at the luxury of space and time that were so lacking in tiny city theaters.
“Space is at such a premium in the city,” he said. “Sometimes you don’t get in there until the night before the play opens.”
Even before he made the move back to Long Island, he was cast in another iconic role, as Stanley in the HTC’s production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” and since his return Mr. Pallister has been very much in demand, both at HTC and elsewhere. Portraying Father Flynn in HTC’s production of “Doubt” was a particular favorite, he said.
“In most plays that you do, there is a definitive angle,” he explained, “something has happened.” In “Doubt,” he added, it’s a question: “Did he or did he not do it?”
In that case, he found it necessary to answer the question in his own mind “because I had to create something. You have to be specific,” he said.
Having made a clear choice for himself, he refused to divulge it.
“I told no one,” he said. And that provoked a curious reaction among some who badgered him afterward, demanding to know: “Did you do it?”
“That was good,” he laughed. “It means we did it correctly.”
Mr. Pallister expects audiences for this play to be just as emotionally engaged. True, McMurphy is a wildly funny rebel whose antics are extremely entertaining, but “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is also about loss and sorrow to an extent that Mr. Pallister believes may surprise some.
“It’s more emotional than people might think,” he suggested. “It’s a very, very powerful piece.”
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” opens on Thursday, March 25, at the Quogue Community Hall on Jessup Avenue. Shows will be offered for three weekends, Thursday through Sunday, through April 11, with no performance on Easter Sunday, April 4. Ticket information is available online (www.hamptontheatre.org) or by calling Ovation Tix at 866-811-4111 or the theater at 653-8955.
on Mar 25, 2010