Head-rot holiday

Sarah Daniels

It is Christmas and that means, at Penwell Special Hospital - or the 'Head-rot Hotel', a psychiatric prison for women - it is time for the patients to put on their best clothes for the Christmas disco. 'Head-Rot Holiday' follows the stories of three women - Dee, Ruth and Claudia - who have each been imprisoned for various crimes, for which their punishment is to be 'treatment'. It was first performed by Clean Break, a theatre company that provides theatre in education to women in prison, at Battersea Arts Centre in 1992.