Outstanding Direction and Performances Ignite Frozen

How does one cope with an heinous act?  Regardless if you are the victim or the perpetrator, it is bound to send you into an emotional tailspin of denial, confrontation and perhaps acceptance.  This is the theme of Bryony Lavery's gripping drama Frozen, currently on stage at Theatre Too, the secondary theatre at Theatre Three.

Frozen premiered in the United Kingdom in 1998.  It made its initial Broadway appearance six years later and had a run of three months.  Frozen received the 2004 Tony Award for Best Play.  Bryony Lavery, the Playwright, has written more than twenty plays.  The play is about a serial killer who murders young girls and focuses on the mother of one of his victims.  Both go through an anguished process of self-realization.

The structure of Frozen is quite unique and highly effective.  The drama is infused with several monologues by all three main characters.  This allows us to get the know the characters easily and quickly.  In the 90-seat Theatre Too, it appeared as if the characters were speaking their thoughts directly to us, and a natural empathy was immediately achieved.  These monologues were far more revealing than several standard scenes of dialogue would have been.

As Nancy, the grieving mother, Elizabeth Grace Rothan was extraordinary.  She brought a genuine, earthy quality to the role.  Nancy's pain was laid out before us like a row of blood-splattered casualties.  Her riveting voice and tortured facial expressions demanded our attention.  Miss Rothan's emotional breakdown at the end of the First Act was among the play's highlights.  She also had an easy way with sardonic humor.

Steven Pounders appeared as Ralph, the serial killer.  His easy style when he discussed his murderous activities was chilling.  Ralph goes through several startling changes in the Second Act, and Mr. Pounders was up to the challenge.  The psychologist who examined Ralph was enacted by Jennifer Pasion.  Miss Pasion played the role with both edgy awareness and knowing compassion.  She also had one of the play's moments of genuine humor when she delivered "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" while in a drunken stupor.

Robin Armstrong's direction of Frozen is nothing short of miraculous.  Miss Armstrong takes us on a well-crafted journey.  First, we get to examine and know the characters on an individual basis.  Then, when they are brought together for dialogue scenes, the drama is intensified.  Due to this direction, the meeting between Nancy and Ralph was a genuine climatic event.  Miss Armstrong also made the off-stage character of Ingrid, Nancy's older daughter, as real as any character on stage.  It should also be noted that she directed the actors to age over a twenty year period without the aid of makeup or lighting.

In short, Frozen is an arresting evening of theatre.  A thought-provoking play with powerful direction and acting makes for explosive entertainment.

Frozen will play through November 5 at Theatre Three. For more information, please visit their website.

Photo 1:  Elizabeth Grace Rothan

Photo 2:  Jennifer Pasion, Elizabeth Grace Rothan, Steven Pounders

Photo 3:  Elizabeth Grace Rothan, Steven Pounders, Jennifer Pasion
 

Photo Credit:  Andy Hanson 

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