Frozen review

The Loft Theatre Company, Leamington Spa, 4 April 2026

I recently watched a repeat of a 1980 episode of TV series Tales of the Unexpected called The Flypaper, a chilling tale of a young girl who is abducted on the way home to her grandmother. It lingers long in the memory afterwards. Dave Crossfield’s new production of Bryony Lavery’s Frozen at the Loft does pretty much the same.

Coincidentally, the main plot of Frozen also begins in 1980 and also features a young girl on her way home to her grandmother, 10-year-old Rhona Shirley, who is sexually abused and killed by serial killer Ralph Wantage (James Proctor). Her mother, Nancy (Cheryl Laverick), is paralysed by hope, grief and anger over the course of some 20 years. Meanwhile, American criminology professor Agnetha Gottmundsdottir (Tracey James) is using the incarcerated Ralph as a case study on why people like him do what they do – are his crimes a symptom or a sin?

The play starts monologue-heavy, progressing to dialogue as Agnetha, Nancy and Ralph’s lives gradually intersect. The cast and crew of the Loft do an impressive job of conveying the titular theme of the play. Rhona’s bedroom is a constant for most of the play, a shrine frozen in time. It is only when Nancy is able to properly grieve (with encouragement from her other, unseen daughter) that the room is packed up. Similarly, Agnetha (whose roots are from a “frozen place”, Iceland), who feels guilty over a recently deceased colleague and lover, is trying to thaw the “frozen sea that is the criminal brain”. Ralph remains rigid in his distorted sense of moral values.

Proctor has a difficult job eliciting sympathy for someone who has committed such abhorrent acts, but he succeeds in making Ralph a fully fleshed, remorseful human being. Laverick is impressive as the mother, moving from hopeful anguish to anger and then forgiveness convincingly. James is equally as good as Agnetha, nicely balancing her didactic persona from a lectern with her internal demons. Joanna Stevely has a largely thankless task as the non-speaking prison guard, but she offers a convincing presence and reacts well.

The set is simple but effective, with the bedroom stage right juxtaposed with the prison cell stage left. In between on the centre pillar, the duration of Nancy’s torment is visualised by a projected carousel reel of world events, year by year. There is also a nice depiction of an aeroplane interior as Agnetha struggles to compose an email. The occasional use of music works well, both diegetically (a loud radio tormenting Ralph in his cell as he tries to focus) and extra-diegetically (the Smiths' ‘Suffer Little Children’). The lighting was great for the most part, putting the spotlight on each character effectively.

Frozen packs a punch and is still relevant in a world where the Moors murders, Fred and Rose West (which inspired this play) and Ian Huntley (who was recently attacked and killed in prison) remain a scarred part of our national psyche. The Loft triumph in reviving a controversial and powerful work, which is tough to watch at times but never less than riveting.