Steph Shipley, who won the Bolton News BATS award for Best Actress in her role in "Death and the Maiden" and John O'Connell who won best actor in the GMDF Awards will face each other as Nurse Ratched and Randle P McMurphy in Bolton Little Theatre's production of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"

Director Barry Hall writes, "It is very easy to make a comparison between the play and the iconic 1975 film of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

"Indeed the film won no less than five Academy Awards, however the play stays true to the original Ken Kesey novel and gives equal exposure to the paranoid schizophrenic Chief Bromden.

"The result is a piece that requires full ensemble playing, and the large and varied cast have risen to the challenge.

"As a company we devoted a lot of time in workshop investing our energies discovering who these people are.

"It's not really necessary here to summarise the events of the play as, I believe, there are many stories to be told within it, but I hope we have done the lives of these disenfranchised people some justice.

"I cannot fault the application and dedication of the company and their willingness to divest themselves of any pre-conceived ideas they might have had.

"As a result, there are tears and laughter - but never ridicule. These people have a story to tell that resonates even today - and we have a responsibility to tell it."

Sam Cooper plays young Billy Babbitt and Dave Smart Chief Bromden, who are the first to recognise McMurphy as their saviour.

Other inmates, each with a distict character, are, Gary Cubbage, Stuart O'Hara, Andy Withers, Conor O'Beirne and Robbie Buchanan.

Michael Tatman, as Doctor Spivey leads the orderlies; Allan Archer, Mark Bradley and Eric Cheetham and nurse Alison Whittaker.

The ladies who entertain the inmates on a night out are Charlotte Carlin and Bev Bacon.