WHO is that actor with the shaven head? You may well remember him from his youth theatre and Grand Opera House pantomime days, growing up in York, when he performed under the name Sam Coulson.

Post-training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts from 2008 to 2011 and an Equity name change, he is now Samuel Edward-Cook, lead actor in Second Shot Productions’ Glory Dazed, Cat Jones’s play about ex-servicemen in Afghanistan and Iraq doing time in British prisons.

On tour after winning awards at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe and 2013 Adelaide Fringe, it visits Hull Truck Theatre on May 17 and 18 for performances at 8pm.

Sam plays screwed-up Ray, a misogynist, racist bully and wife-beater who makes his first entrance splattered in blood. His performance has drawn praise from the Guardian’s esteemed theatre critic Michael Billington, no less, who wrote: “Samuel Edward-Cook succeeds in making Ray both frightening and vulnerable.” Second Shot founder and artistic director Cat Jones, the Pearson Playwright in Residence at Manchester’s Royal Exchange and part of the Royal Court Super Group in London, wrote Glory Dazed as a “direct response to the over-representation of ex-servicemen in the UK prison population”. The figure is fiercely disputed but is estimated to be somewhere between three and ten per cent.

Glory Dazed began life as a series of discussion groups involving ex-servicemen serving prison sentences at HMP and YOI Doncaster. The men discussed their experiences of both being in the armed forces and their return to civilian life.

To varying degrees, they revealed difficulties with alcohol, aggression and multiculturalism, as well as a deteriorating relationship with their families. As Ray’s ex-wife Carla puts it in the 60-minute play, “They either come back in a box or off their box.”

“Clearly the hero isn’t exactly a little Ray of sunshine,” wrote Michael Billington in his April 29 review. “But, without exonerating him, Jones’s play goes some way towards explaining him. It suggests that in economically depressed areas the army becomes an escape route, that soldiers see firsthand the futility of a conflict where every enemy killed breeds further hatred, and that the alternatives for returning troops are grim.

“It’s a play that combines the suspense of a movie like The Desperate Hours with the timeless message that you can’t expect servicemen to return from a foreign war such as that in Afghanistan without being mentally scarred.”

What’s On was tipped off about Acomb actor Sam’s involvement in the production by Jim Welsman, former chairman of York Musical Theatre Company, for whom Sam performed in such shows as That’s Entertainment! in 2009.

“If you get a chance, go to Hull Truck to see Glory Dazed, starring our own Sam Coulson,” said Jim. “I saw it at the Edinburgh Fringe and was amazed at what a powerful piece of theatre it was. They won a Fringe award, took it to Adelaide earlier this year and it’s now running at the Soho Upstairs in London until this Saturday to rave reviews. Sam was definitely the star!”

• Tickets for Glory Dazed cost £10 to £12 on 01482 323638 or online at hulltruck.co.uk