Our New Theater Critic Weighs In on Frozen
Please welcome Impresario’s new theater critic, M.B. Case, to the mix. This week, M.B. takes a look at InterAct Theatre Company’s Frozen.
Absolution is at the center of Bryony Lavery’s Frozen, directed by Whit MacLaughlin and making its Philadelphia debut at InterAct Theatre. Three divergent and broken lives are forced into the slow crawl toward remorse, reconciliation, and forgiveness in this Tony-nominated play exploring the question of whether people are born evil or whether evil is born in people.
Psychiatrist Agnetha studies serial killers, Ralph is a serial killer and pedophile, and Nancy is the mother of a daughter gone missing for 20 years. The play opens with Agnetha — played by Catharine Slusar — preparing to fly to England to interview Ralph and present a paper on crimes perpetrated due to mental illness. Hers is a character whose brokenness lies just under the surface — one senses a hairline fracture about to crack wide open. This is difficult psychological ground to tread, and Slusar’s performance feels a bit forced and self-conscious at times.
Jeb Kreager is bone-chilling in his portrayal of Ralph, the serial-killing pedophile. His study of a broken, remorseless man is near flawless. Kreager’s performance positively dares one to take a second look and consider feeling something resembling kindness toward a person who has committed heinous crimes. in the role of Nancy, Mary Martello also turns in a solid performance. She’s the character most audience members will find themselves empathizing with, recognizing. Upon realizing — accepting, rather — that her child who has been missing 20 years is actually dead, Martello delivers the line — with astute candor — “all this time I’ve been growing her up.” The moment is wrenching and reels the audience along in the search for something — anything — to cling to now that this, Nancy’s last vestige of hope, is gone.
Matt Saunders’s set is befitting in its sparseness, but the play is ill-served by needless (and far too numerous) sound effects smattered throughout. A lightning crack, then thunderstorm — timed at the onset of horrific news — made me immediately think “What knockers!” “Oh, thank you, doctor!” Silence would much better serve this play.
It is hard to imagine where such an intersection of minds and emotions will end up, and Lavery’s second act rushes towards a conclusion too soon, making the inevitable “thawing” a little unbelievable. But despite some of its shortcomings, InterAct’s production of Frozen has its electric moments; and, with strong performances effectively getting under the skin of its audience, it is theater very much worth seeing. Forgiveness is, after all, a difficult thing, for oneself or others. But it is a worthwhile endeavor, and one that eludes most of us. — M.B. Case
Performances through May 4th. InterAct Theatre Company, 2030 Sansom Street; box office/information: 215-568-8079.
April 16th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Nicely written. Good to see an honest review. Welcome to your new reviewer.