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Frozen.
'Frozen' is a horrifying story of human emotion: of despair and hope and suspended outcome... it's the story of a serial killer and his impact upon his victims. One of the key questions in this Bryony Lavery thriller is whether the true victims are the relatives who are left to deal with the aftermath of such crimes, in this case the mother Nancy who mourns for her daughter Rhona.
Nick Pelomis plays the killer Ralph, who is serving life sentences for the murder of seven young girls, one of them being Rhona, the ten year old daughter of Nancy (Carmel Johnson).
There are chilling and all-too-obvious connections in this storyline to events we've witnessed in Adelaide over the past two decades, even though the original play is set in England. Written by British playwright Bryony Lavery, the script delves into the mind of a sadist, and through the investigations of the American psychologist Agnetha (Annabel Giles) reveals the genesis and consequence of evil. We spend some time, she and I, in discussing whether a play such as this comes under the heading of 'entertainment'; it's bound to be a searing experience for the actors and audiences alike, given the subject matter. For Giles herself, I guess there's dangers in her getting to close to the central characters, since she tells me just how much time she has spent in reading and researching for her role.
In 'Frozen', Giles has to deal with the fact that her psychologist character is attempting to explain such murderous instincts as 'an illness' is unlikely to be the most popular person around; their opinion being no more welcome in a stage production than it would be in the wider community.
For mother Nancy the fifteen or more years since her daughter's disappearance and murder exact a horrific toll: her mental disintegration under the weight of guilt, helplessness and grief, and her desire for revenge. The closer she comes to understanding the pathology of her daughter's killer, the more repulsed she is in recognizing the need for some forgiveness on her part.
"I can't really tell you what happens - that'd be giving too much away," says Giles, "but there's much more to it that just telling the story. As you imagine, Agnetha has to spend quite a bit of time with Ralph, and in gaining his trust she gets to know him better. But one of the questions is 'does she ever really know him at all?'."
In fact, as the story unfolds on stage, the principal characters seem to be unraveling - falling apart as they struggle to deal with the truth. Except, perhaps, for Ralph, whose evil certainty seems unshakeable.
In the centre of the mix - the conduit -of the plays action - is Agnetha. It's almost fitting that the action takes place in the round, the actors are surrounded by their audience, and there's no place to hide. They are under merciless examination or the entire time they are on stage.
"It's not too bad for me because I did quite a few shows in the round early on in my career; you don't really get used to it, but I guess it's not quite so daunting, because it can be very tough on the actors. It is very demanding."
Her experience came - particularly as a member of Troupe Theatre in the mid 1980s. Relocating herself in Sydney, she continued performing before returning to Adelaide some years ago where she's mainly be involved in working as a much sought after voice over artist. "I'd known Catherine Fitzgerald for years, but pretty much out of the blue my agent got this call asking me to audition for 'Frozen'. I did, and that was that."
Catherine Fitzgerald is the Director of 'Frozen', which is her first project for State Theatre since last years lighthearted comedy 'Boston Marriage'. This play, certainly, is in a different league entirely.
Giles must have had some strong feelings for the play when she read the script, I press her, particularly as the mother of a young girl herself. "It drags you into that world, and that way of thinking, definitely. It's not an easy piece to perform, night after night. And of course, my character is arguing that Ralph is sick, that he has a pathological condition, and that's not necessarily a popular view to espouse to grief-stricken people who are trying to understand why their daughter has been taken by this... this monster."
Alex Wheaton
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'Frozen' opens in The Space on Sat
2 July. See The Prize Frenzy™. |
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