Peter Doyle’s Incredible Head
Written by David Andrew Laws, Directed by Xandra Abney
Chain Theatre | 312 W 36th St. 4th floor, New York, NY 10018
Friday July 11th at 8pm, Saturday July 19th at 5pm, and Sunday July 27th
I enjoy the absurd. I keep thinking the nightly news is an absurdist play, but then they roll the credits and realize that was supposed to be reality.
Peter Doyle has a disembodied head in his apartment. He doesn’t know where it came from. He doesn’t know when it arrived. It is there, and very much alive. The head doesn’t know where it came from either. It doesn’t remember a prior existence. It doesn’t eat, and there’s a question of how it processes oxygen. Philip walks into the bizarre world when he sees “Incredible Head” on a bathroom stall and thinks he can score fellatio. As everyone tries to explain themselves, the question arises whether or not the head is happy in Peter’s apartment or if it’s a captive. We all deserve happiness, right?
This is not magical realism. It is clearly not normal to anyone involved. It’s not that there aren’t questions, but neither the characters or the author can answer them which feels like a cheap out. Even The Santa Clarita Diet had a disembodied talking head with a backstory. The performances are uneven and I was unsure if they were improving sections or just not listening to one another. Furniture was kicked by a frustrated character, but it felt like an actor out of control and that someone could be hurt accidentally. The blow-job humor wore thin, and unsurprisingly the climax is the Head giving Philip fellatio.
There are higher themes at play masked like vitamins in gummy form. But this current incarnation does not make them more palatable.
Presented as part of the Chain Theatre’s Summer One-Act Play Festival. From July 10 through August 2, 2025, their midtown Manhattan theater (312 W. 36th Street, 3rd & 4th Floor) transforms into a theatrical mixtape, delivering daring, genre-busting new works from rising voices and veteran talent alike. Featuring more than 90 short plays across curated nightly blocks (each 75–90 minutes), the festival offers a bold mix of dark comedy, gripping drama, and unexpected magic, with select performances available for streaming.
Click HERE for tickets.
Review by Nicole Jesson.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on July 14, 2025. All rights reserved.