The Stage

Frozen

Published Monday 19 June 2006 at 15:25 by Anne Hopper

A ten year old girl leaves home to visit her grandmother and never returns. Her mother, Nancy, waits frozen in time until confirmation comes 20 years later, that the child was abused and murdered.

This much is established in a series of interlinked monologues as the killer is caught, identified as a serial killer and jailed and the inevitable psychiatric investigations begin. The play is horridly topical, highlighting issues we would rather not think about and its conclusion that such crimes are not necessarily born of evil but rather mental illness remains questionable.

Directed without frills or sentimentality by Sarah Punshon on a stark minimalist set by Elizabeth Wright the four players give truly mesmerising performances, greeted in the kind of silence that is tangible.

Each character is flawed: Kate Layden as Nancy is heartbreaking on her journey from anger through acceptance to forgiveness even as they eventually meet and she quietly rebuts the killer’s assertion that he did not hurt her child. As the psychiatrist, Agnetha, Marilyn Cutts cleverly establishes the characters’ own demons and her clinical detachment from real life. As the child rapist and killer David Tarkenter presents a chilling portrait of a damaged but manipulative man with great skill. The brooding silent presence of Guy Parry’s guard in all but the earliest scenes reminds us of the unspeakable crimes behind the theorizing and rationalising.

Bryony Lavery’s play and this production of it will polarise opinion in those who see it.

Frozen now joins the summer repertoire at the Theatre by the Lake.