Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
Frozen response
A challenging play about a child killer leaves MARY CONWAY somewhat cold
Splendid: Suranne Jones and Nina Sosanya in Frozen [Johan Persson]

Frozen
Theatre Royal Haymarket, London

BRYONY LAVERY’S Frozen arrives at the Theatre Royal with a starry cast and a formidable track record after previous productions at Birmingham Rep, the National Theatre and on Broadway attracted award nominations.

But there's something about Lavery's story of a remorseless serial killer who commits the kind of crime that makes avengers of us all and sets mobs baying for blood that leaves me cold.

Centred on the rape and murder of a child, Frozen cuts through spontaneous revulsion with intelligent questions while seeming to exploit, rather than dissipate, the prurience of the world at large.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
stars
Theatre review / 14 July 2025
14 July 2025

MARY CONWAY applauds the success of Beth Steel’s bitter-sweet state-of-the-nation play

VALENTINE'S DAY BLUES: (L) Memoir Of A Snail; (R) Bridget Jo
Cinema / 13 February 2025
13 February 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE review Cottontail, Memoir of a Snail, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, and Captain America: Brave New World
Nigel Betts (Billy) and Nigel Cooke (Cliff) in Double Act
Theatre review / 29 January 2025
29 January 2025
MARY CONWAY applauds a study of comedians in whose cheap prejudice the tenets of the emerging political right are crystal clear
MASSIVELY RELEVANT: The company in Cable Street
Best of 2024 / 18 December 2024
18 December 2024
A nervous year, showing that the theatre, like the world, stands on a precipice and seems uncertain where to jump