Headcase by Douglas Yannaghas (paperback)

by Douglas Yannaghas

A stone head. A ruined house. A lonely man searching for something to believe in.

Ian has spent his life in the remote Highland village of Rosedale, haunted by the deaths of his parents, controlled by his aunt and struggling to find a place in the world.

Then, inside the abandoned Tawny House, he discovers a stone head.

It speaks to him.

As Ian becomes convinced that he has found the voice of God, his growing certainty draws in Cassandra, the local minister’s niece, whose own ideas about faith, forgiveness and redemption seem to offer the possibility of a different life. Together, they begin to imagine a new church founded on love rather than punishment.

But Ian’s need for connection soon becomes a hunger for authority. Belief turns into control, forgiveness becomes possession, and the voice in the head begins to justify increasingly dangerous acts.

Darkly funny, unsettling and psychologically intense, Headcase is a solo play about grief, isolation, religious extremism and the seductive power of absolute certainty. Moving between Ian’s childhood, present and imagined future, it asks how trauma shapes belief—and what happens when one person decides that only they can hear the truth.

Written for one performer, Headcase offers rich opportunities for imaginative staging through sound, lighting, movement and design.

The play shifts rapidly between different ages and moments in Ian’s life, gradually revealing the childhood trauma, loneliness and fear that have shaped him. The stone head may be presented as a real supernatural presence, a projection of Ian’s mind or something more ambiguous.

First performed at the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe by Cold Open Theatre, Headcase is an atmospheric and provocative piece of contemporary Scottish theatre.

Themes

• Faith, religious extremism and the misuse of belief
• Bereavement and childhood trauma
• Loneliness, isolation and belonging
• Coercive and controlling behaviour
• Love, forgiveness and manipulation
• Masculinity and emotional vulnerability
• Rural life and Highland depopulation
• Power, authority and certainty
• Memory, imagination and unreliable narration

Ideal for

• Solo performers
• Fringe and studio theatre productions
• Drama schools and actor training
• University theatre and performance courses
• Students studying contemporary Scottish drama
• Discussion of faith, coercive control and unreliable narration
• Creative exploration of sound, movement and nonlinear storytelling

Content guidance

The play explores bereavement, childhood trauma, coercive and controlling behaviour, religious extremism, alcohol and substance dependency, pregnancy loss, murder and the disposal of a body. It also contains descriptions of violence, blood and animal consumption of human remains.