REVIEW: FROZEN by Bryony Lavery at Greenwich Theatre 26 April – 19 May 2024

“Will either chill you to the bone or leave you cold” ★★ ½

Written by Bryony Lavery in 1998, this celebrated study of the banality of evil, a story of child abuse, survival and redemption is definitely not that Disney production with the same name. At 2 hours, 30 mins with a much needed and well-positioned interval, this dark and distressing play will leave you feeling like you need a good shower. Perhaps, one of the toughest subject matters to deal with, being exposed to such anguish and depravity is not easy in the intimacy of a theatre.

The first half of Frozen is primarily a series of monologues. We understand a 10-year-old girl, Rhona is missing. Her mother, Nancy convincingly played by Kerrie Taylor has sent the little girl to her grandmother just like Little Red Riding Hood, a figure who later appears in a child pornography video collection. We quickly meet her damaged and creepy killer, Ralph with his foul language and malign designs, “I think she liked me.” The stressed criminal psychologist, Agnetha (Indra Ove) has flown in from the States to begin her assessment and arrives with more than her hand baggage.

Can Nancy ever forgive her child’s killer? Can Agnetha ever understand him? Or herself? Can the child catcher feel remorse? Is he mentally ill or rotten to the core? The play breaks just before a restorative justice meeting, an unexpected exchange where the mother, now ready to forgive the killer of her daughter, inadvertently triggers Ralph by sharing family photographs, This unexpected conversation is one of the highlights of the play that offers a theatrical response to this unimaginable situation and an opportunity to experience a slither of empathy.

A great deal has changed in the cultural landscape since 1998 when this play was first presented. Since then, we’ve seen a deluge of serial killer programming on TV and in Hollywood (despite this type being a relative rarity within the criminal classes, they remain prevalent as viewing subjects.) Some treatments are sensationalist and exploitative, others intelligent, nuanced and probing often presented from multiple perspectives. We have come to learn that serial killers are human, not one-dimensional monsters and can sometimes even be sympathetic.

This is why the panto paedophile of Frozen is impossible to connect with. Even though we see a glimmer of Ralph's backstory towards the end, his characterisation is designed to have the audience baying for blood from his first appearance. Even the diagrams and multiple theories posited by the criminal psychologist do not alleviate the impression of an irredeemable soul. You come out wondering if Serial Killer Film and TV may have stolen the thunder from Frozen.

Before the show starts, there’s a black and white moving image of a huge piece of ice projected onto the back of the stage. It stretches, creaks, expands and imperceptibly melts. This image speaks to a frozen heart, a life stopped in its tracks and the possibility of melting, forgiveness and life commencing. The ice is offset against the idea of a flame. FLAME is the organisation for parents of missing children where Nancy sometimes speaks. They all carry “the flame of hope.” These twin images of hot and cold, life and death, fire and ice, are thematic strands running through the play.

The sick or evil? question that underpins the text is perhaps too reductionist, too black and white. There are surely many men with troubled backgrounds who don’t go on child killing sprees. The ghostly sound of a girl laughing, juxtaposed with one of Ralph’s self-regarding monologues as he describes luring the child into his van obviously plays to a crowd. I understand the audience is meant to feel discomforted and disorientated but Frozen left me more cold than chilled.

Photographer credit: Danny With A Camera

FROZEN by Bryony Lavery at Greenwich Theatre 26 April – 19 May 2024

Box Office https://greenwichtheatre.org.uk/events/frozen/

Reviewed by Nilgin Yusuf