By Glenn Billman, news staff

Death, mental illness and child actors are brought together by Boston Children’s Theatre’s rendition of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” The show opened Saturday afternoon and stars Northeastern third-year theatre major Sam Mulcahy.

Mulcahy led the cast of 14 to 25 year olds in the role of Randle Patrick McMurphy, a criminal looking to escape his prison sentence by feigning a mental illness. However, he discovers the ward is run by Nurse Ratched, played by 18-year-old Teresa Gelsomini, who intimidates the patients into submission. McMurphy refuses to be dominated like the other patients, and he teaches them to resist Nurse Ratched and the institution. As the play continues, elements of prostitution, rebellion and electroshock therapy ensue.

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was originally published as a novel by Ken Kesey in 1962, then adapted into a play and an Oscar-winning movie in 1975 starring Jack Nicholson. Mulcahy said it was exciting and intimidating to tackle such an acclaimed role.

“Jack Nicholson’s take of Randle McMurphy is really well known, so I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to make sure that my take is a little bit different, trying to put my own spin on it,” Mulcahy said. “I think people are going to see it and their first instinct would be to compare me to Jack Nicholson, just because that’s what they’re going to think of when they think of the character. But I hope after the show, they see my reading of it and they’re like, ‘You know, it’s not Jack Nicholson, but it’s equally valid.’”

Mulcahy has been acting since seventh grade, and this is his first production with Boston Children’s Theatre. As a full-time student, he said it was a balancing act to incorporate four-hour rehearsals three to four times per week into his schedule.

Despite his full schedule, Mulcahy said he enjoyed learning and growing in the role of McMurphy, who he made more lively to fit the stage.

“It’s just kind of naturally bigger [than Nicholson’s] just because it’s on the stage and not on screen,” Mulcahy said. “He’s a lot bigger, he’s a lot more bombastic. He’s even more unapologetic, even more irreverent.”

Director Burgess Clark emphasized from the beginning of rehearsals that the young actors were not supposed to imitate the previous renditions of their characters: The audience was there to see what they add to the well-known roles, not to hear the story for the first time.

“I think Sam brings an edgier quality to McMurphy, a more dangerous quality to McMurphy, than Nicholson did,” Clark said. “I think they’re both valid interpretations, but I think he’s brought more of himself to the role of McMurphy. I just love working with him. He’s smart and he’s creative and he’s very edgy, which is exactly what we needed for this part.”

Clark also said Mulcahy’s professionalism and maturity inspired the other young actors in the cast.

“Sam has been a dream, and I really mean that,” Clark said. “There’s not a lot of young adult actors who would appreciate working with younger kids, but he has not only been an exemplary actor in the roll, but he has also been just as effective and inspirational backstage.”

Gelsomini, senior at Tyngsborough High School, said Mulcahy’s acting skills inspired her to improve her performance as she struggled to make Nurse Ratched her own, as opposed to a derivative of Louise Fletcher’s Oscar-winning performance.

“Sam is a great scene partner, and I think something that’s been challenging is he’s someone you need to match on stage,” Gelsomini said. “The great thing for me is I’ve grown a lot having him on a scene partner because he does kind of make the stakes higher. I think he also has struggled a lot playing the role, but you wouldn’t know seeing it, because he does such a wonderful job portraying McMurphy.”

Clark said the best moments in the show are interactions between Mulcahy and Gelsomini.

“They have discovered a real dynamic together,” Clark said. “It’s honestly one of the best casts I’ve ever worked with.”

Although “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is more than 50 years old, both Clark and Mulcahy said the idea of resisting oppression continue to be pertinent to modern audiences.

“This script is more relevant than ever with our current administration, governmentally,” Clark said. “It’s all about resisting. Resisting oppression, resisting the power that’s in place, resisting the system. And I think theatre teaches history, and it teaches lessons like that better than any other.”

Despite the dark ending for McMurphy, Mulcahy said he hopes audience members leave feeling hopeful.

“No one has more power over you than you do,” he said. “People can try to make you do stuff all day, but at the end of the day, you’re the one that’s got to do it.”