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By Carol Davis
 SAN DIEGO—Ion Theatre Company is the little theatre that could. It continues to push the envelope in spite of the setback of losing their theatre home in Alvarado Canyon. They are now among the homeless in San Diego, renting out space made available to them by other venues. But it would take more than a little obstacle like that to stop this company from bringing work to our area that makes us think; really think!
Right now they are presenting Bryony Lavery’s Tony Award nominated play Frozen a, pardon the pun, chilling drama about a young girls disappearance, a psychiatrist and a killer.
It’s not fun nor for the faint of heart. It made good research material, it may bring closure for some who have lived through harrowing experiences and somewhere in this equation there may be sound reason for forgiveness, if that’s in your nature. “I think you’re lucky if forgiveness visits you and you’re in agony if it doesn’t” (Bryony Lavery)
Just recently the body of 9-year-old Somer Thompson, a Florida girl who been had reported missing by her mother, was found under some trash in a landfill in southeast Georgia. Somer was walking home from school. Authorities reported. “There is a child killer on the loose” said the Sheriff, ‘and that’s why we’re going to catch this person and bring him to justice”.
It seems lately we have been reading more and more stories in the news like this story. How timely then this production. Add to this the appearance of Rabbi Harold Kushner (When Bad Things Happen to Good People) who spoke about his new book Conquering Fear: Living Boldly in an Uncertain World at this year's San Diego Jewish Book Fair recently at Temple Solel. Add to this conversations with Holocaust survivor Dr. Edith Eger who spoke to the cast, during rehearsals, on forgiveness.*
Rhona, a ten-year-old youngster. disappears off the face of the earth while on her way to visiting her grandmother. Her mother Nancy Shirley (Dana Hooley; more on her later) is more than crazed that her little girl has not come home. On one of the four raised platforms in the 11th Avenue Theatre, home of The Sushi Space, Nancy Shirley tells of her agony and anguish while she waited for news of her little girl.
Off to the side on another raised platform with nothing but a table, chair and bald light bulb, Ralph (Matt Scott) is getting ready to store a body in his shed. On an opposite platform psychiatrist Dr. Agnetha Gottmundsdottir (Sunny Smith) is on a plane from New York (after an agonizing and unexplained crying jag before she leaves her flat) to England where the story takes place to interview the serial killer, Ralph, who is now in prison, to see what makes him ‘tick’.
Frozen starts off as a series of monologues with each of the three characters telling their side of the story. In a jam-packed two-hour plus evening we are led on an agonizing journey through some of the roughest terrain one might want to travel. Artistic director Claudio Raygoza and his talented cast take us through a frozen hinterland of conflicting ideas and emotions that crisscross, intersect and eventually thaw.
Watching this unfold in short vignettes as the ‘good doctor’ unravels her theory on serial killers ‘that the crimes they commit are not crimes of evil but more crimes of illness’ (This theory comes from a 1997 article by Malcolm Gladwell on the work of psychiatrist Dorothy Lewis whose research into serial killers found that they may have suffered physical abuse…) is almost jaw dropping at the outset.
Tell that to Hooley’s Shirley who, for a moment doesn’t believe that over the course of 21 years with at least seven dead youngsters on his rap sheet, (they found remains in his shed) that this killer isn’t evil. Forgive and forget? Not on your life! Tell that theory to Scott’s Ralph who stares blankly at the Dr. as he tries to comprehend. Does he really get it? Was he abused? Does he know the difference of right from wrong? Was he neurotically altered as a result of abuse against him as a child?
Angetha’s case studies aside, because her theory of why mass murderers do what they do raises the eyebrows and is great fodder for any defense attorney, Hooley’s portrayal of Nancy Shirley is the real drama in this show. What does it take, what is the process and how does anyone ever forgive such brutality inflicted on a child of yours?
Twenty years is a long grieving time and even after she begins a support group for mothers who have lost their children to the
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same horrific circumstances as hers, Nancy still must work through a series of mind-and- psyche-changing paradigms including meeting with the doctor and listening to her theories. We see the process Nancy goes through in her effort to free herself of hate. It’s a riveting performance by Hooley whose raw emotions bring credence to her character.
Hooley has been involved in the theatre scene since I can remember. The roles she tackles are not the glamour roles. They are the nitty gritty mother earth roles that she can sink her teeth into and this is no exception. To say that you can feel her pain, her confusion as to the non-reactions of her older daughter who goes globetrotting to forget (I am your daughter too, she fights back) and her philandering husband who is absent through it all, is putting it mildly. You know the pain Shirley is going through.
And when she finally tells the doctr she wants to see Ralph in jail, the doctor just about forbids it. Shirley has gone too far in her own search for forgiveness to listen to the doctor. Over her objection, she pays a visit to Ralph. You can see her trepidation, her anxiety, her fears; they;re on her face and in her body language. He, on the other hand, gets somewhat rebellious and starts ranting after he finally agrees to see her.
Matt Scott’s Ralph is a pretty scary character himself talking about his killings, his porno collection, his contempt for women and his tattoos. His low monotone voice which every now and then would break out into a shout of foul assaults on women, along with his calculating movements and half grin, almost makes your skin crawl. He seems to be as mesmerized or frozen in his little world of pedophilia, hate and mutilation as Shirley is frozen in her obsessive loathing toward him.
Scott also goes through a wrenching range of emotions as well when he is finally forced to confess his childhood abuses. It isn’t until a visit from Shirley, though that he finally breaks through the fourth wall. During Shirley’s visit to him in jail where across the table from him, she methodically shows him pictures of Rhona and her family and confesses that she forgives him does he finally show some semblance of a conscience, which in turn becomes his own Waterloo.
Sunny Smith’s Agnetha is pretty convincing when espousing her psycho babble about her theories, but for some reason Lavery felt it necessary to give the good doctor a little of her own drama dealing with guilt and loss, but it paled in comparison and was a distraction. Smith, tall and composed throughout most of the production eventually shows some emotions in a sharing moment with Nancy.
Raygoza and Scott designed the set, that at first I found to be a pain in the neck (literally) as the audience had to turn to face each platform that in turn formed a semi circle around the audience. After a fashion one could figure out where the next monologue would be coming from so the turn of the body, the twist of the neck seemed automatic. It really put the audience in the middle of all the drama and was very effective. My lesson; never underestimate the judgment of a set designer, director or for that matter the lighting designer who also happened to be Raygoza. Joe Huppert’s sound design of heavy cello music proved melancholy, depressing and a little loud.
*In a conversation with Dr. Edith Eger who spoke on the topic of forgiveness, as was retold to me by Raygoza, she had this in essence to say: Learning to forgive makes us human and if we don’t forgive the monsters win. When asked if she thought that Ion should be putting on such heavy material (they are co producing Bent at Diversionary that opens Oct. 29) she said that their company is making a big difference in the lives of people in dealing with the tough questions including forgiveness and grief "and we (Ion) are providing the community with great art, as art should impose important questions and not provide answers. It’s opening the door, making us a little uncomfortable, but it’s invaluable."
Eger also talked of the heartbreaking details about her ‘existence’ in the camps and the chill she got from staring into Mengele’s eyes. She is the author of Turning Broken Bones into Dancing - A Journey through Life
Frozen plays through Oct. 31at 390 Eleventh Ave. in the East Village area of San Diego. Hurry!
For more information visit www.iontheatre.com
See you at the theatre.
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