Jason Donovan is to star in a new production of Dale Wasserman’s play One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Directed by Roger Hodgman, it will have an exclusive Melbourne season from 13 November.

Donovan will co-produce the drama and play Randle P. McMurphy – a role made famous by Jack Nicholson in Miloš Foreman’s 1975 film. A charismatic troublemaker, McMurphy leads a rebellion against the formidable, authoritarian Nurse Ratched, who runs the psychiatric institution in which he is a patient, having faked mental health issues to get out of prison labour.

Jason Donovan. Photo © Matt Crockett

Ken Kesey wrote his landmark novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1962. Wasserman’s stage adaptation opened on Broadway a year later with Kirk Douglas as McMurphy and Joan Tetzel as Nurse Ratched.

The novel is narrated by Chief Bromden, a Native American patient. Kesey famously refused to see the film, which shifted the focus away from Chief Bromden and centred it almost entirely on McMurphy. However, he admired Wasserman’s play.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest has been staged by various Australian theatre companies over the years, with productions by Sport for Jove in Sydney in 2017, a Melbourne version directed by Tyran Parke in 2020, and a 2022 production set in Australia by Perth company Darlington Theatre Players, among others.

Famous for playing Scott Robinson in Neighbours, Donovan last performed in Australia when he played Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show. His other stage credits include Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He recently performed sell-out shows across the UK in his Doin’ Fine 25 tour and Doin’ Fine Encore tour earlier this year.

“Coming home to Melbourne to star in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest feels incredibly special. I recently saw the production at The Old Vic in London and was completely blown away by it,” said Donovan.

“It’s powerful, confronting, funny and deeply human theatre. The story may have been written many years ago, but its themes still feel incredibly relevant today – challenging authority, questioning the status quo and pushing back against the system. McMurphy is an absolute powerhouse of a character; he provokes, disrupts and inspires those around him to resist, and it’s unlike anything I’ve played before, which is exactly why I wanted to take it on.”

Nurse Ratched will be played by acclaimed Australian actor Nadine Garner, whose many credits include the TV series The Doctor Blake Mysteries and City Homicide, and Sam Mendes’ production of the musical Cabaret in which she received a Helpmann Award for her portrayal of Fraulein Kost.

Jeremy Proulx, a proud First Nations actor of Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) and Haudenosaunee (Oneida) descent, originally from the community of Neyaashiinigmiing and currently based in Canada, will reprise the role of Chief Bromden, which he has played in the US and the UK.

Storyboard Entertainment, Stoddart Entertainment Group and Jason Donovan present One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at the Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne, 13 November – 6 December. More information here.