“Frozen” is the title of the three character (plus one silent prison guard) drama by Bryony Lavery which opened Friday evening in Goshen’s New World Arts theater. It also is an apt description of the atmosphere engendered by the plot which deals with a terrifying and unthinkable subject.

A 10-year-old girl sets out for her grandmother’s house but never arrives. For years, her mother agonizes over the loss and is haunted by not knowing the how and why of her disappearance.

A serial killer pedophile is caught and imprisoned for life.

An American psychiatrist comes to England to complete work on her thesis: “Serial Killing: A Forgivable Act?”

Inevitably their lives touch and, eventually, each finds his/her own solution.

A series of monologues in Act 1 provides the background on the crime and on the individuals involved. In Act 2 they come together in duologues.

Nancy (Leah Borden) relives the day she sent her youngest daughter Rhona off to grandmother’s house. She suffers from acute stress-related headaches. Years later she still is searching for answers and hoping Rhona is alive. Ralph (Jim Jones in a disturbingly chilling performance) relives his crimes from his prison cell and declares he has no remorse. Agnetha (Brittany Gardner-Kennel) is suffering her own loss but deals with her topic in a stoically clinical manner, determined to retain her objectivity. Eventually, however, she is the unwilling bridge between criminal and victim.

“Frozen” deals with a subject — and a premise — that is difficult to absorb. Abnetha’s question as to whether Ralph’s actions were “a crime of evil or a crime of illness” has no definitive answer. Were the killings sins or symptoms? Does he deserve forgiveness? His description of a happy childhood is, like his rationale for killing, a figment of his imagination.

After years of freezing herself from any other emotional contacts, and against the psychiatrist’s orders, Nancy finally gives in to her older daughter’s insistent pleas. She confronts Rhona’s killer and forgives him. He, in turn, faces the reality of his actions after her visit.

Borden’s Nancy goes from guilt to acceptance with little sign of emotional change. Gardner-Kennel is all scientist but could use a little more authority in her lectures. Both need more severe hairstyles, at least at the beginning.

Jones, who has played the role before, is a master of twitching fingers, rolling eyes, nodding head and shaking limbs. He is both an object of revulsion and someone to be pitied. It is impossible to look away from him, like the accident you don’t want to stare at but from which you can’t look away. (Except Brian Kozlowski as the Prison Guard who also serves by standing and waiting but never says a word.)

Director Adrienne Nesbitt has opted to cover the stage and set pieces with white sheets, which individual actors eventually remove little by little as the story progresses. I assume it is to represent the melting of frozen minds and hearts. Unfortunately it more resembles taking down the wash.

“FROZEN” plays at 8 p.m. today and Saturday and Oct. 21-22 in the theater at 211 S. Main Street, Goshen (entrance from South Third Street). Tickets at the door or call 1 (800) 838-3006. For information visit www.newworldarts.org.