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Powerful telling of classic tale
Edith, played by Kerry Peers who can still find the will to smile with daughter Anne Frank, played by Amy Dawson The Diary of Anne Frank Wolverhampton Grand **** IN Shalom Auslander's novel Hope: A
Tragedy an elderly Anne Frank is discovered in an attic. Having actually survived the war, she has been
kept hidden away on the advice of a worldly-wise publisher who points
out that sales of her diary could drop substantially were Anne to be
found alive. It is an indication of how strong a hold That
Diary has on our consciousness that Anne will always be a teenage Jewish
girl cooped up in an attic attempting to escape the Nazi killing
machine. With her diary having sold more than 30 million
copies, Anne is a human face on a massive tragedy which is just too
terrible for most of us to comprehend. Easier to empathise with the laughing picture of
a young girl with dark curly hair and her scribblings in a teenage diary
than six million people wiped off the face of the earth. But, as with all such individuals, there is a
risk that we forget to see her as a real teenager, that we deify her
into a young martyr whose humanity is lost in a larger message. Which is why this production of The Diary of Anne
Frank is so refreshing. We are given an Anne so full of life it is hard
to contain her within that attic in Amsterdam.
She is impulsive, generous, boisterous, and
loving but also disrespectful of others' space, confused, jealous, loud
and sometimes downright rude. In fact as typical as any typical teenager
can be in untypical circumstances. Played with bucket-loads of enthusiasm by Amy
Dawson, it has to be said that living in an attic with this Anne Frank
would have been hard work! The claustrophobia of the tiny space, and the
endlessness of the waiting from the eight people trapped inside, only
serves to heighten and stain relations – being a victims of circumstance
does not turn people in to saints. Trying to keep the peace is Anne's father Otto,
played by Christopher Timothy. He is a gentle and loving man, determined
to do what is right, despite the provocations. Feeling the strain much more is his wife Edith,
played by Kerry Peers, whose battles with hopelessness are among the
most poignant moments of the drama. Sharing the space are the volatile van Daan
couple (Steven Pinder and Sarah Ingram) and their son Peter (Robert
Galas) who becomes the object of affection for Anne. And the family are
finally joined by dentist Dussell (Dominic Gately) who has to share a
bedroom with the chatty teenager. Designed by Morgan Large, the set makes imaginative use of the stage so that we feel the narrowness of the walls in which the families live yet the story itself is not constrained by space. Christopher Timothy plays Anne's father Otto, the only one of the group to survive the war And hanging in the air are the reminders of all
the family have left behind – simple objects like a bicycle or a swing
are emblematic of the childhood Anne should have been living. Directed by Nikolai Foster, the production does
not let up for a moment, winding the three families into increasing
tautness as food runs short, tempers fray and fear oppresses. As the
Nazi stranglehold outside tightens, the fear grows that they may never
escape back into their old lives. With most of the play being dialogue blended with occasional snatches of reading from the diary we are constantly pulled back to the book which brought Anne's story to the world. At the close of the drama Otto, the only one of
the group to have survived the war, tells us the fates of those people
we have watched for the last ninety minutes. And it is a grim roll call. This is a powerful telling of a classic story.
Raising all the questions of how anyone would cope with such a terrible
situation, it also shows us both the real evil but also the incredible
goodness in humanity. To 10-03-12 Diane Parkes Meanwhile over the page . . . *** THE hardship suffered by eight Jewish
people hiding from the Nazis in the secret annex of a property in
Amsterdam during the Second World War is revealed in this compelling
drama. It came to light through the diary penned by
13-year-old Anne Frank during more than two years that the group were
helped by a loyal friend to avoid the seemingly inevitable capture by
the German occupation troops. Amy Dawson gives an impressive performance as the
daughter of former German banker Otto Frank (Christopher Timothy) who
moved to Holland and set up his own business believing his family would
be safe from the growing threat against the Jewish population. But this particular production never quite shows
the terror the two families and dentist Albert Dussell must have felt
waiting for the clatter of jackboots on the stairs. That may be
something to do with the decision to have a uniformed German officer
sitting in a corner of the stage while the story unfolds, and there is
almost a feeling of anti-climax when he eventually wanders into the
annex to arrest the fugitives. Only Otto survived to the end of the war, and the
play ends with Timothy, front of stage, revealing the fate of the
others. The diary closes on 10-03-12. Paul Marston
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