London Director Clint Dyer Brings All-Black Casts to Three American Classies – Including ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’

London Director Clint Dyer Brings All-Black Casts to Three American Classies – Including ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’

@thejasminebrand : Director Clint Dyer is taking on three major American plays in London’s West End — and he’s doing it with all-Black casts.

Dyer is staging Dale Wasserman’s 1963 adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at the Old Vic from April 1 through May 23, alongside David Mamet’s American Buffalo in the West End and Tracy Scott Wilson’s The Story at the National Theatre, which runs August 27 through October 24.

The Cuckoo’s Nest production features a majority-Black cast led by Michelle Gomez as Nurse Ratched and Aaron Pierre as Randle McMurphy, with Giles Terera also appearing. Arthur Boan will portray Chief Bromden — the Indigenous character whose perspective anchors Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel, though the 1975 Oscar-winning film starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher shifted focus to McMurphy.

Explaining his casting decision, Dyer said, “And that’s the reason why I chose to do the play. It’s the reason why I wanted to cast the patients as African-Americans,” adding that the novel feels especially relevant today. “The place that America is in right now is a real example of why the book is so prescient,” he said. “American amnesia really. It’s about the American lie. The inability to recognize that our past is embroiled and baked into our present.”

In the interview, Dyer also addressed U.S. politics and race, referencing former President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. “Misogynoir, I think is what they call it these days,” he said, adding, “The idea that we can be our own worst enemy is something that we have to accept and confront.”

Beyond Cuckoo’s Nest, Dyer’s staging of The Story stars Letitia Wright, Lorraine Toussaint, Ashley Thomas, Wilf Scolding and Jay Simpson. The productions follow his Death of England trilogy, which was captured by NT Live cameras.