Frozen (play)
| Frozen | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Bryony Lavery |
| Characters |
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| Date premiered | 1 May 1998 |
| Place premiered | Birmingham Repertory Theatre |
| Original language | English |
| Setting | Present-day England |
Frozen is a play by Bryony Lavery that tells the story of the disappearance of a 10-year-old girl, Rhona. The play follows Rhona's mother and killer over the years that follow. They are linked by a doctor who is studying what causes men to commit such crimes. The themes of the play include emotional paralysis and forgiveness.
The play was first performed at Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1998 and won the Best New Play Award from the Theatrical Management Association. It later made its debut at the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre on 3 July 2002.
Frozen opened Off-Broadway in February 2004 at the Manhattan Class Company Theatre starring Swoosie Kurtz, Brian F. O'Byrne and Laila Robins. It transferred to Broadway in May and closed in August 2004.Frozen was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play in 2004, and earned a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play (Brian F. O'Byrne).
The story is set in present-day England and involves three main characters: a serial killer named Ralph, who kidnaps and murders a young girl; the murdered girl's mother, Nancy; a New York psychiatrist, Agnetha, who travels to England to examine Ralph. The three lives slowly intersect — and the characters gradually change and become "unfrozen" as they come to terms with the idea of forgiveness.
The script begins in monologues, each person showing his or her side of the story; the audience sees each person's story intertwine as they connect with one another.
In September 2004, papers around the world (including The Times, The Observer, the New York Times, and the Associated Press) reported that Lavery had allegedly plagiarized significant portions (nearly 675 words) of the play from a 1997 The New Yorker article by Malcolm Gladwell about psychiatrist Dorothy Lewis, and from Lewis' own 1998 book Guilty by Reason of Insanity.
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