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Frozen
One evening, ten-year-old Rhona goes missing. Her mother, Nancy, retreats into a state of frozen hope. Agnetha, an academic, comes to England to research a thesis entitled "Serial A Forgivable Act?" Then there's Ralph, a loner with a bit of a record who's looking for some distraction . . . Drawn together by horrific circumstances, these three embark upon a long, dark journey that finally curves upward into the light.
84 pages, Paperback
First published July 8, 2002
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418 people want to read
About the author
Bryony Lavery
40 books12 followersBryony Lavery is a British dramatist, known for her successful and award-winning 1998 play Frozen. In addition to her work in theatre, she has also written for television and radio.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
May 24, 2014
I have never read anything like this before. It's such a unique play with a very complicated plot. It discusses a lot of things that no one really seems to want to talk about because they're so dark like rape, pedophilia, the death of a small child, and one of the hardest things to read about was the side of the murder, and humanizing him but also him having no regret.
One of the things I liked the most about this show was that a majority of it was done in monologue. That makes this show very different from most plays and it just adds to the intensity of the book. Theres something more powerful listening to one person grow and develop on their own versus them having a little conversation with someone and finding out something different.
Another interesting thing about this play that I would like to mention was how everything was structured. It wasn't a big block of text, it was broken up into small lines and small paragraphs. It was almost like reading a poem. I think they did this to emphasize points in the show for the actor but also to further intensify the show.
This play was very dark and creepy. One of my favorite lines from it was said by Rhona's mother, Nancy, when she was looking at the bones of her child. She holds up the skull and she's says something like "and I'm overwhelmed by it's.. it's... Joy!" Now this is like super weird but very different and very creative on Bryony Lavery's part.
I think overall this play is fantastic and I'd recommend it to someone who's interested in theatre and a completely new experience. I would however recommend that if it is read, make sure to watch a funny tv show or read a happy book because this play can put you in a kind of dark place and no one wants that.
One of the things I liked the most about this show was that a majority of it was done in monologue. That makes this show very different from most plays and it just adds to the intensity of the book. Theres something more powerful listening to one person grow and develop on their own versus them having a little conversation with someone and finding out something different.
Another interesting thing about this play that I would like to mention was how everything was structured. It wasn't a big block of text, it was broken up into small lines and small paragraphs. It was almost like reading a poem. I think they did this to emphasize points in the show for the actor but also to further intensify the show.
This play was very dark and creepy. One of my favorite lines from it was said by Rhona's mother, Nancy, when she was looking at the bones of her child. She holds up the skull and she's says something like "and I'm overwhelmed by it's.. it's... Joy!" Now this is like super weird but very different and very creative on Bryony Lavery's part.
I think overall this play is fantastic and I'd recommend it to someone who's interested in theatre and a completely new experience. I would however recommend that if it is read, make sure to watch a funny tv show or read a happy book because this play can put you in a kind of dark place and no one wants that.
October 31, 2018
An unspeakable act triggers one of the most searing confrontations I have ever read in a play. Frozen is one of the plays at the top of my director bucket list. It punches the reader so hard in the face I can't imagine the effect it must have upon an audience.
Can we forgive the unforgivable?
Can we forgive the unforgivable?
June 9, 2015
Creepy and fascinating play dealing with the darkest of subjects in uncomfortable, ambiguous ways.
August 6, 2015
This book is a play and the audio tape version was really interesting! I highly suggest listening to it on audio.
January 1, 2024
Frozen is an interesting play that offers up meditations on the experience of grief, the minds of murderers, and whether or not we can forgive the unforgivable.
The story is told largely through monologues, with the mother of a missing girl, the serial killer who took her, and the psychiatrist studying the killer each taking turns at them. As the play goes on, scenes merge and the characters engage in dialogues together. Each character is based on a real person (which got the playwright in some hot water, as she was accused of plagiarising the person who inspired the character of the psychiatrist), which adds some interesting depth to it all. It's thought provoking and sad, and while it humanises a killer it never tries to make you "like" him really, it encourages understanding and pity more than any stronger feelings. That said, I feel like it leaned a bit too much into pop psychology (which probably ends up leaving it some of it dated, since the play is about twenty-five years old at this point), which put a damper on my enjoyment of it. I did really enjoy the structure and I felt like the emotion in the story was great. I listened to the LA Theatre Works production, and I did enjoy all of the performances from the leads. Even if Jeffrey Donovan's accent was a bit wacky, he was still chilling as the killer. Rosalind Ayres was especially good as the grieving mother with complicated feelings about her daughter's loss, the surviving daughter, and the killer himself.
As long as you know a bit about the content of the play going in (it's so heavy that going in without at least a little info is going to be potentially upsetting), I would recommend checking it out. Don't treat it as scientific fact, just enjoy a story well told. The audio version is worth checking out for the performances that bring the characters to life.
The story is told largely through monologues, with the mother of a missing girl, the serial killer who took her, and the psychiatrist studying the killer each taking turns at them. As the play goes on, scenes merge and the characters engage in dialogues together. Each character is based on a real person (which got the playwright in some hot water, as she was accused of plagiarising the person who inspired the character of the psychiatrist), which adds some interesting depth to it all. It's thought provoking and sad, and while it humanises a killer it never tries to make you "like" him really, it encourages understanding and pity more than any stronger feelings. That said, I feel like it leaned a bit too much into pop psychology (which probably ends up leaving it some of it dated, since the play is about twenty-five years old at this point), which put a damper on my enjoyment of it. I did really enjoy the structure and I felt like the emotion in the story was great. I listened to the LA Theatre Works production, and I did enjoy all of the performances from the leads. Even if Jeffrey Donovan's accent was a bit wacky, he was still chilling as the killer. Rosalind Ayres was especially good as the grieving mother with complicated feelings about her daughter's loss, the surviving daughter, and the killer himself.
As long as you know a bit about the content of the play going in (it's so heavy that going in without at least a little info is going to be potentially upsetting), I would recommend checking it out. Don't treat it as scientific fact, just enjoy a story well told. The audio version is worth checking out for the performances that bring the characters to life.
October 24, 2020
A dark play about a woman who's daughter was kidnapped, the serial killer who took her, and a psychologist studying him. The performances were great. Nothing in the plot surprised me but I was entertained.
January 8, 2026
This is a lot darker than I thought it would be, but wow does it pack a punch! Definitely one of the better things I've read so far this year and really creatively done, too. I'm definitely interested in reading another Bryony Lavery play!
January 5, 2025
پنجاه صفحه ابتداییت رو امروز توی مترو خوندم و خب، اونقدری که انتظار داشتم خوب نبودی. حالا فقط یه تجربهی زیستهای.
December 28, 2009
Certainly not an easy play to grasp in terms of the meaning we're "supposed to" come away with, but powerfully ambiguous anyway. "Frozen" becomes a welcome antidote to our world's obsession with the surface of crime, such as CSI and all the popular forensic shows which center on solving the unsolvable. Here, the 3 main characters are the mother of a murdered daughter, the serial killer who killed her, and the academic studying the killer for signs and clues about why he turned out as he did.
It's never clear whether we are supposed to hate or pity the killer--maybe both--or even truly believe that he has a change of heart; it's never clear whether we can truly buy the academic's theories any more than we can really buy all the pop psych of crime profiling which swirls around our culture. Lavery seems to use this ambiguity purposefully, as a complement to the painful details in her play: details of the crime,
such as the shed where the daughter's body is found, the arguments within lost child support groups which reverberate within the mother and her family, all suffering along different paths, and especially the jailhouse meeting between the mother and the killer, which brings the play to an unexpectedly satisfying ending. I admire Lavery's skillful use of dialogue and the play's jumpy construction, which exactly fits and augments the tone of the play.
It's never clear whether we are supposed to hate or pity the killer--maybe both--or even truly believe that he has a change of heart; it's never clear whether we can truly buy the academic's theories any more than we can really buy all the pop psych of crime profiling which swirls around our culture. Lavery seems to use this ambiguity purposefully, as a complement to the painful details in her play: details of the crime,
such as the shed where the daughter's body is found, the arguments within lost child support groups which reverberate within the mother and her family, all suffering along different paths, and especially the jailhouse meeting between the mother and the killer, which brings the play to an unexpectedly satisfying ending. I admire Lavery's skillful use of dialogue and the play's jumpy construction, which exactly fits and augments the tone of the play.
February 25, 2018
The action of this play is centered around the abduction of a girl and three characters: a mom, a pedaphile, and an academic. Some great roles for actors to piece together and chew on. The scenes are either monologues or two handers. The dialogue is very British; would have to change some words to sound American. The dialogue is also very atmospheric - transports you to the place the characters go in their minds. You can feel how the characters are breathing, and sometimes struggling to breath is some of these scenes which is testament to the skillful writing. A few good contemporary dramatic monologues for women and men in 40's-60's age range. Loved the use of sound - ice cracking, breaking.
May 25, 2012
This is a fascinating play. The subject matter is visceral - specifically the serial killing of children, and generally what we become when we get locked inside grief. Lavery tells her story as a formalist, relying on direct-audience address as the vehicle for forward action. It makes the play a difficult read but I imagine a powerful performance, because the form becomes theme, where the pain of facing death in its brutality and capriciousness tempts us to isolate. A test of a play's strength for me as a reader is found in my desire to see it performed. I very much would like to see a production of this play.
June 4, 2015
I don't know if this play was trying to get me to feel bad for serial killers, but it didn't work. I thought the theories behind the murderous motives were interesting, but nothing that would make we switch sides. I really enjoyed the play on evil vs. illness between Ralph and the Doctor. I listened to this as an audiobook, so it became more of a radio play. A lot of the subtleties were lost by presenting it in this medium, but Jeffery Donovan as Ralph was very chilling (despite his awful Scotch-Irish brogue). It would have been interesting to see this onstage, as its primarily a monologue show, but with a strange jump from press conference to jail cell.
June 21, 2015
I enjoyed reading this play. The lines were extremely interestingly structured, almost in rhythm, like spoken word poetry. There was a bit of graphic sexual imagery, but that added a lot to the story and characters for me. There were moments/scenes which I didn't totally buy in this very serious drama, but other than that it was an intensely emotional read with a couple of good twists!
July 26, 2019
I thought this a tremendously powerful play, in spite of the limitations of it being largely done in monologue. It’s an incredible opportunity for actors, and challenging.
This is the Dramatists Play Service version, which isn’t quite as good as the original, but still powerful.
I’m playing the character Ralph next week...can’t wait.
This is the Dramatists Play Service version, which isn’t quite as good as the original, but still powerful.
I’m playing the character Ralph next week...can’t wait.
October 28, 2016
A Play dealing with a serial killer of young girls in England?
I was not sure if this would be my kind of play, but it works on so many levels. Told thru many monologues, and two character scenes, you learn what creates the need for closure, and how these type of predators work. 3 charactors, easy to produce, moving and disturbing, but I couldn't stop reading!
I was not sure if this would be my kind of play, but it works on so many levels. Told thru many monologues, and two character scenes, you learn what creates the need for closure, and how these type of predators work. 3 charactors, easy to produce, moving and disturbing, but I couldn't stop reading!
December 12, 2012
A very fluid and well written play. Difficult subject matter for sure. Not easy to stomach and I felt a little unsettled with some of the choices for the characters. But, just my opinion. Would be interesting to see it staged.
May 12, 2007
Just read it. It is the most moving, spine tingling play I have ever read and had the fortune to see.
Want to read
June 17, 2010malcolm gladwell's What the dog saw
December 29, 2012
Might look and sound better on the stage but I found reading the play to be sort of a sterile experience.
June 13, 2017
Absolutely fantastic. The writing was stunning, the stage directions were well thought out in terms of the atmosphere. I can't wait to pull from this for Scene work and monologues.
November 14, 2017
I’m late to the party but I’m glad I came. This is a harrowing, epic play told in a spare, stylish way. As chilling as its title.
March 13, 2018
3 1/2 stars
November 9, 2022
The subject matter of Bryony Lavery's Frozen is indisputably compelling. 10-year-old Rhona has disappeared on her way to her grandmother's house; five years later, her remains are found, along with those of half a dozen other little girls, in a shed belonging to a sad loner named Ralph. Fifteen years after that, Ralph--in prison, now, with no chance of parole--is interviewed by a psychologist from America who is studying the brains of serial killers, in particular the hypothesis that their abusive and murderous behaviors are caused by physical defects resulting from injuries and/or the overmanufacture of toxins in reaction to childhood stress. At the same time, Rhona's mother, Nancy, now a victim's rights activist, decides she wants to meet Ralph: she wants to tell him she forgives him, and she wants him to understand how much he hurt Rhona and, by extension, herself and her family.
The doctor, Agnetha, tidily sums up the idea that is at the heart of Frozen: To decide whether or not we can forgive an act of evil, she tells us, we must first determine whether that act is a sin or a symptom
That's an interesting notion, and Lavery spends most of her play doggedly exploring it. Ralph is repugnant but clearly damaged; though we never get very many details about his childhood, it's certain that he suffered severe emotional and physical abuse at the hands of his mother and assorted step-fathers. Agnetha conducts various tests that bolster her thesis: Ralph can endlessly list items to be found in a supermarket, but he fails a less structured test (to list words beginning with an "f"); he can hop on his right foot but loses balance as soon as he attempts to hop on his left. Parts of Ralph's physical brain material are distorted or missing--his inability to feel (or even comprehend) remorse seems to be based in lack of capacity rather than something more ephemeral. Nancy, meanwhile, finding outlets for her pain and grief, turns bloodthirsty rabble-rouser until finally (unconvincingly, years later), her neglected surviving daughter teaches her tolerance and urges her to forgive and move on.
Rich, fascinating stuff, this; yet Frozen left me cold. Lavery stacks her deck a little more deliberately than she needs to. The arc of the play is apparent within ten minutes--Lavery doesn't grow characters so much as manipulate them, and us right along with them. I felt myself being very consciously guided to a conclusion all the way through Frozen; I prefer it when a playwright trusts me to reason things out on my own.
Possibly even more problematic is Frozen's structure. A great deal of the play is told through monologues--indeed, Nancy has only one scene with Ralph and only two with Agnetha; Ralph and Agnetha interact only in formalized interview settings. Thus, we're denied the chance to see these people interact in human ways (which contributes to that manipulation I just mentioned). And Lavery proves very ineffective in solving the chief problem of the confessional structure, i.e., who are these people talking to? Especially when Nancy was speaking, I never knew.
The doctor, Agnetha, tidily sums up the idea that is at the heart of Frozen: To decide whether or not we can forgive an act of evil, she tells us, we must first determine whether that act is a sin or a symptom
That's an interesting notion, and Lavery spends most of her play doggedly exploring it. Ralph is repugnant but clearly damaged; though we never get very many details about his childhood, it's certain that he suffered severe emotional and physical abuse at the hands of his mother and assorted step-fathers. Agnetha conducts various tests that bolster her thesis: Ralph can endlessly list items to be found in a supermarket, but he fails a less structured test (to list words beginning with an "f"); he can hop on his right foot but loses balance as soon as he attempts to hop on his left. Parts of Ralph's physical brain material are distorted or missing--his inability to feel (or even comprehend) remorse seems to be based in lack of capacity rather than something more ephemeral. Nancy, meanwhile, finding outlets for her pain and grief, turns bloodthirsty rabble-rouser until finally (unconvincingly, years later), her neglected surviving daughter teaches her tolerance and urges her to forgive and move on.
Rich, fascinating stuff, this; yet Frozen left me cold. Lavery stacks her deck a little more deliberately than she needs to. The arc of the play is apparent within ten minutes--Lavery doesn't grow characters so much as manipulate them, and us right along with them. I felt myself being very consciously guided to a conclusion all the way through Frozen; I prefer it when a playwright trusts me to reason things out on my own.
Possibly even more problematic is Frozen's structure. A great deal of the play is told through monologues--indeed, Nancy has only one scene with Ralph and only two with Agnetha; Ralph and Agnetha interact only in formalized interview settings. Thus, we're denied the chance to see these people interact in human ways (which contributes to that manipulation I just mentioned). And Lavery proves very ineffective in solving the chief problem of the confessional structure, i.e., who are these people talking to? Especially when Nancy was speaking, I never knew.
Read
May 21, 2021I decided to read this because I was at an air bnb and it was on the shelf and the only thing short enough to read in 2 days. I was also hoping that, based on the description on the back of the book, somehow I would gain understanding on how people find it in them to forgive abusers/murderers (something I personally find impossible). Welp, did not work. “I needed to forgive to let it go” was basically the conclusion, which was too simplistic/unrealistic to me. The ol’ “This monster has mental problems they cannot control, and was abused themselves” also played a part, which again just led me to rolling my eyes. Anyways, I’m probably not the intended audience for this. I will say it was more poetic than any other play I’ve read, and as someone who on some level enjoys pretty much all plays and all poetry, I did appreciate that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 10, 2024
Most random read of the year thus far. I've been doing an adult acting class for the past few months and was assigned Nancy's first monologue from this play (Scene Four: Nature Table). I was having trouble connecting with the character so the teacher lent me his copy of the play and I read it over two afternoons. It made me remember how enjoyable it is to read a play, and I'll try to include them more regularly in my reading diet. This one is gripping, disturbing, bleak but ultimately hopeful. A quick but thought-provoking read.
December 24, 2020
An interesting blend of verse-esque monologues and scenes of naturalistic dialogue. The form is effective, but the content wasn't for me. I can see opportunities for some tense performances if I saw it live, but just reading it, it was mostly just a series of shock reveals that come from psychoanalyzing a serial killer. The type of people who are into true crime podcasts might like this, but that's not me.
November 10, 2024
Frozen is probably a play that lends itself much more to being seen live rather than being read. Just reading the text the heavy reliance on internal dialogue scenes is a bit tedious. The theme of forgiveness is powerful, as is a psychological look into how serial killers are created, but the idea that seems to be proposed I don’t quite buy. There can be no sympathy for the character of Ralph.
January 5, 2020
God, this is a bit of a rough read, isn't it? Well written though. Not sure how I'll feel about it by the time the show shuts but you know... we'll see
Read
June 30, 2021Someone after reading this book told me that forgiveness is for the weak and justice for the strong when we don't mean them.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews