FROZEN by Pangdemonium! Productions

“Forgiving and Forgetting”

Reviewer: Andre Theng
Performance: 25 October 2014, 3pm

Reading the pre-show coverage in the press in the weeks preceding Pangdemonium’s Frozen, I must admit that I have never before been filled with more trepidation prior to watching a play. All the material pointed to a chilling, frightening and murderous play that may just wreck havoc on my mind.

While fortunately the play was nowhere as frightening as I had feared, it was indeed mind-blowing, thoroughly immersive and impressive. The relatively small Esplanade Theatre Studio gave the entire show a very intimate feel and there was a one-ness with the roller-coaster of emotions that one is taken through the 105-minute play.

Pangdemonium’s Frozen cannot be more different from the popular Disney movie of the same name. Instead, it recounts the stories of a serial killer and paedophile, Ralph, played by Adrian Pang and that of a mother, Nancy, grieving the murder of her daughter. The two stories are linked by Agnetha, a psychologist studying serial killers. Ralph gets away with his crimes for many years before he is finally arrested and jailed. It is then that the mystery of the disappearance of Nancy’s daughter is solved. Although she desires to meet Ralph in prison to forgive him, Agnetha, who has met Ralph many times as part of her thesis research, discourages her from doing so.

Most impressive was Pang’s characterisation of Ralph. One wonders which audience member would be next in line to be murdered. While Pang has proved to be an excellent actor time and again, his performance as Ralph is particularly memorable.   Koh and Tan are exceedingly competent in their respective roles, both showing a mastery of emotions throughout the play.

The Bryony Lavery written script is most certainly deserving of the 4 Tony nominations it received in 2004, and also commendable was Eucien Chia’s set, which made good use of the small space to create multiple sub-spaces within the confines of the Theatre Studio.

And so, Frozen brings a fitting end to a good season for Pangdemonium, which has grown from strength to strength in the few years sinces its inception. While this wasn’t as remarkable as last year’s Rabbit Hole, it is certainly much better than Fat Pig, the opening show of the season. While I have been sceptical about yet another morbid Pangdemonium production, I am now of the opinion that this should very well be their specialty. Ticket sales can testify to the buzz successfully created by the marketing team – by the start of Frozen’s run, the entire two week run was already sold out.

I just hope no one bought tickets expecting the Disney show.

Frozen is about forgiving and forgetting. But there was nothing to forgive – just everything to remember.