Head Rot Holiday

HEAD ROT HOLIDAY

Weighed In Productions in association with Carbon Theatre
Supported by Women in Prison

“Christmas is a right frightening bastard. If you can survive it in here then there’s hope,” Sarah Daniels, from Head-Rot Holiday.

December 1991. In a secure hospital for the ‘criminally insane’, three women prepare for the Christmas disco. The parole board’s recipe for early release: put on a dress, wear some makeup… and dance with a rapist or killer of your choice. Ruth hears voices but distracts herself with karaoke. Claudia defies the racist nurses and longs to see her children. Dee applies mascara for the first time and is paid a visit by an angel. Behind iron bars, the patients and nurses of Penwell Special Hospital ask: in such a topsy-turvy world, who are you to say that I’m insane?

Head-Rot Holiday by Sarah Daniels was originally produced in 1992 at Battersea Arts Centre by Clean Break, a theatre company dedicated to telling hidden stories of imprisoned women. The incendiary production is credited with having lifted the lid on the horrors of these so-called 'special hospitals', helping to bring about their widespread closure. Three decades later, Weighed In Productions presents the first major revival of Head-Rot Holiday at the height of another mental health crisis in women's prisons.