BILL BRAY introduces the author
What the stage needs is not violence but compassion. This is not a continuation of my stance against violent plays, but heralding our next production, which deals with a violent subject, but without pandering to the current trend in all media to depict graphic violence.
Bryony Lavery was a marginalised and under-rated playwright before her play Frozen was presented by the National Theatre in 2002. Fascinated by theatre as a child she went into theatre administration and worked with experimental and political theatre groups like Red Ladder and Monstrous Regiment with particular emphasis on feminist issues. During the twenty years that her life changed from 'normal' domesticity, marriage and motherhood to divorce and a change in sexual preference, she has written more than 20 plays, including Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (her adaptation of the novel by Anita Loos) and Calamity. She became artistic director of Gay Sweatshop and Female Trouble and also a performer and a teacher on Birmingham University's master's degree course in playwriting.
She was 54 when Frozen was presented at the National. Her maturity had brought her a great deal of experience and compassion and this is shown in this three-character play. It is a beautifully written piece, beginning with monologues from the characters and developing into duologues, confrontation, argument and discussion. The subject, the murder of a child, might have produced the most extreme in-yer-face horror but Lavery's style is not like this. Frozen is a dramatic examination of the situation that is the nightmare of all parents, with all viewpoints shown with compassion. The play has its share of humour and, finally, there is a positive and hopeful resolution.
Lavery is a large, friendly and generous lady and says her family has given her great support. She grew up in Yorkshire where her father was Principal of the Dewsbury Nurse Training College. Her mother had four children and didn't believe in women going out to work. "It was a very happy and very poor childhood. We didn't have a TV because we knew that it was bad for us. But my father would bring back slides of things like crab lice to keep us amused." In an interview she told a true story, although it doesn't sound it. "My sister and I were given, for a birthday present, half a skeleton to play with. The skeleton had one arm, one leg and a skull cut in two, with a brass peg. I bet that's where Frozen started," she said.
This is a truly outstanding play with three terrific parts for the actors. If you enjoy thoughtful, engaging, powerful theatre, this is for you.
STEVE MARSHALL, director, introduces the play
Ten-year old Rhona is sent on an errand, but never comes back. Twenty years later her mother, Nancy, gets a call from the police and her long-frozen hope is shattered. Rhona is at the centre of the story, but the play is not about her; it is about the three people most affected by her disappearance.
Agnetha is an American academic who is writing her thesis titled, Serial Killing, A Forgivable Act? Ralph is a loner and the man responsible for Rhona's abduction. There is Nancy. All three are in rigid, frozen places.
From their different perspectives, both Agnetha and Nancy want to know why. Both need something from each other and from Ralph, but his is a complex and difficult personality with which to engage.
Frozen explores fundamental themes of choice and responsibility through the experiences of these three characters. It observes the ways in which all our life events remain with us and can continue to shape how we function in the world throughout our lives. The play takes us through the three characters' individual but intertwined journeys, exploring the limits of forgiveness, remorse and understanding. It questions not only how much we as humans can bear, but also the very essence of what it is that makes us human.
As well as creating a play of great humanity, having delved into recent work in relevant fields of the neurosciences, Bryony Lavery has given us an intelligent, thoughtful and thought-provoking piece.
Nancy is played by Nicky Marshall making a welcome return to the Geoffrey Whitworth stage after several years' absence, having last been seen in A Lady of Letters by Alan Bennett. Ralph is played by David Webster, well known to Whitworth audiences and winner of the 2005-6 Bexley Arts Council award for Best Actor for his performance in the November 2005 production of Misery. He was more recently seen in the role of Donny in The Lieutenant Of Inishmore. Lola Lee-Walsh takes the part of Agnetha. Lola's Whitworth credits include Our Country's Good, Racing Demon and Dead Funny.
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