By Bryony Lavery. Directed by Renée Iaci. Presented by shameless hussy productions. At the Dorothy Somerset Studio Theatre on Thursday, September 24. Continues until October 3

Anthony F. Ingram delivers a performance of such chilling eccentricity that it’s worth the trip to UBC to see Frozen at the Dorothy Somerset Studio Theatre.

The subject matter has the ghoulish appeal of a scalpel. Playwright Bryony Lavery invites the audience into the mind of a pedophile and multiple murderer named Ralph. As we watch, Ralph shows how he abducted a 10-year-old girl named Rhona. Then we meet Rhona’s mother, Nancy. The woman who’s holding the metaphoric scalpel is Agnetha, a psychiatrist who studies serial killers.

Lavery based Agnetha’s arguments on the work of American shrink Dorothy Lewis, an expert in the field, and it’s entirely persuasive when Agnetha presents evidence to support her position that a disproportionate number of multiple murderers have suffered head injuries and emotional abuse, rendering their brains incapable of impulse control and empathy. In scenes between Agnetha and Ralph, Lavery personalizes Agnetha’s data. Ralph’s parents banged his head around and his dad probably fucked him. Ralph is a bag of tics that indicate severe neurological damage. “The difference between a sin and a symptom,” Agnetha says, “is the difference between a crime of evil and a crime of illness.”

Unfortunately, Agnetha’s argument is so airtight that the first act gets boring and there’s little reason to return for the second; although the examination of Ralph’s culpability gets slightly more nuanced in Act 2, it would be impossible to argue that his responsibility is not extremely limited. Thematically, there are few surprises. If you’re not already keen on vengeance, there won’t be a lot here for you.

Except, of course, Ingram’s performance. He simply never strikes a false note, and it’s creepily fascinating to feel like you’re in the presence of someone so credibly horrific—and ordinary. This Ralph blinks and startles. He obsessively arranges photographs on a table. And he says outrageous things with complete casualness: “The only thing I’m sorry about is that it’s not legal. Killing girls.” Vocally and physically, Ingram is fantastically detailed and responsive.

Daune Campbell is less persuasive as Nancy. She reaches for big emotions and displays them, but they often feel false. When faced with such overwhelming feelings, most of us fight against them.

Deb Pickman turns in a solid performance as Agnetha, although she’s more at ease with the scientist than she is with the emotional woman who trembles behind that cool façade.