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    Frozen: A Play
    Frozen: A Play
    Frozen: A Play
    Ebook131 pages1 hour

    Frozen: A Play

    By Bryony Lavery

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    About this ebook

    "[A] big, brave, compassionate play about grief, revenge, forgiveness and bearing the unbearable." --The Guardian

    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 Killings: 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateJun 2, 2015
    ISBN9781466894013
    Frozen: A Play
    Author

    Bryony Lavery

    Bryony Lavery's plays include Bag, Origin of the Species, The Wedding Story, and the award-winning Her Aching Heart. She lives in England.

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      Book preview

      Frozen - Bryony Lavery

      The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify the publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.

      Contents

      Title Page

      Copyright Notice

      Acknowledgments

      Production History

      Characters

      Act One

      Act Two

      By the Same Author

      Bryony Lavery

      Copyright

      The author wishes to express her gratitude to Marian Partington, for her words and her courage.

      Anyone wishing to learn more about the psychology explored in this play should go to www.gladwell.com.

      Frozen was first performed at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on 1 May 1998, with the following cast:

      Nancy   Anita Dobson

      Ralph   Tom Georgeson

      Agnetha   Josie Lawrence

      Daughter   Gloria Nicholls

      Guard   Matthew Seymour

      Voice of David Nabkus   Joel Kaplan

      Directed by   Bill Alexander

      Designed by   Ruari Murchison

      Lighting by   Tim Mitchell

      Music by   Jonathan Goldstein

      Frozen was revised and revived in the Cottesloe Theatre at the National Theatre, London, on 25 June 2002, with the following cast:

      Nancy   Anita Dobson

      Ralph   Tom Georgeson

      Agnetha   Josie Lawrence

      Directed by   Bill Alexander

      Designed by   Ruari Murchison

      Lighting by   Paul Pyant

      Music by   Jonathan Goldstein

      The revised version of the text is the one published here.

      The American premiere of Frozen took place on March 18, 2004, at the East 13th Street Theater. It was produced by MCC Theater; Robert LuPone and Bernard Telsey, artistic directors. It was directed by Doug Hughes; sets were designed by Hugh Landwehr; costumes by Catherine Zuber; lights by Clifton Taylor; with original music by David Van Tieghem. The production stage manager was B. D. White. The cast was as follows:

      Nancy   Swoosie Kurtz

      Ralph   Brian F. O’Byrne

      Agnetha   Laila Robins

      Characters

      Ralph

      Nancy

      Agnetha

      Voice of David

      Guard

      Act One

      ONE: FAREWELL TO NEW YORK

      New York street sounds … busy, whirling traffic and voices. Stops abruptly as light reveals …

      Agnetha, hallway of her apartment, New York. Checking her airline tickets, passport.

      Agnetha

      Yes

      yes

      yes

      yup

      yeah

      yo.

      All is ready. She looks around. Looks through a doorway.

      Bye room.

      Gives the room a little wave.

      Bye bedroom.

      Bathroom.

      Office.

      She salaams gravely.

      Bye home.

      They all get waves, thumbs up, high signs, as appropriate. Until … she’s ready. She picks up airline tickets, carry-on bag. She’s ready. Then, she unclenches her jaw … and her teeth start chattering.

      Oh no.

      I do not need this.

      Not now.

      Please.

      But it is now. She puts down her tickets. Her teeth chatter uncontrollably. She succumbs loudly to the chattering …

      Er g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g …

      oo g-g-g-g-g-g-g …

      okay

      out

      good.

      She waits again. Then tears fill her eyes and she starts blubbing. She encourages herself to cry … then bawl … there is something deliberate and good-humoured about it … as if she is two people … one expressing emotion, the other encouraging it out …

      Mmmmuuuuuuurrr …

      mmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaa …

      yes, come on …

      wwwwwaaaaaaahhhhhhh …

      mmmmmmaaaaaaaaaahhh …

      Come on …

      plane to catch…!

      Oh boy …

      The bawling moves into keening and howling, so Agnetha must pick up her carry-on bag, which she screams into, muffling the sound somewhat. She screams and screams. Finally …

      Okay.

      Finished?

      Finito?

      She checks.

      Yes.

      Yep.

      Okay.

      Good.

      Picks up her travel documents, bag etc., again.

      Yes yes yes yup yeah yo …

      She calls loudly through the walls.

      Sorry, Mrs Lipke!

      The Big Noise is leaving!

      Sorry Mr Chen!

      Crazy Horse is outta here!

      She leaves for the airport.

      The sound of a large plane flying over … heading towards …

      TWO: FAMILY LIFE

      The gentle chirrup, hum, buzz of an English garden …

      Nancy, home, her back garden, evening, idly nipping buds off.

      Nancy

      I should have gone round myself with those secateurs.

      We’ve never seen eye to eye on shrubbery.

      I’m prune-to-a-dormant-bud

      but she’ll be instigating a slash-and-burn regime.

      She’s let her Clematis montana alba do its own thing.

      I said ‘They like their feet in the shade and their head in

      the sun’ but she’s plonked it

      in a south-facing

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