The Diary of Anne Frank

Jane Wilton, the Director, put forward the idea of performing this play to coincide with the 70th. anniversary of the death of Anne Frank in Bergen-Belsen, the camp where she died, which was liberated in April 1945, just weeks after her death. This version was adapted by Wendy Kesselman in 1997 and is said to deromanticise the more familiar adaptation by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett by restoring to the stage the fullness of her thoughts and leaving out much of the sentimentality. To find a young girl to act the very demanding title role must have presented the group with what must have seemed a mammoth task but, what a find they had in the 15 year old Brianna Undy. What a remarkably talented young actress she is, portraying all the various emotions with such insight and her naturalness and stage presence were outstanding for one so young especially as it was her first major acting role. I cannot praise her enough for this superb characterisation. The acting of the rest of the cast was exemplary each painting a vivid picture of the individual differences and personalities of their specific role. Mr. and Mrs.Van Daan were splendidly played by Michael Fletcher and Ann Taylor as was their son Peter, by Joe Riley and also Mik Horvath as the grumpy dentist, Mr. Dussel. Terry Stevenson was excellent as Otto Frank showing restrained authoritativeness throughout. After the inevitable ending he brilliantly delivered, with such anguish and torment, a truly moving monologue. Sheila Kay Sly beautifully captured the emotions of Edith Frank and Sophie Mander gave a very praiseworthy performance as the quiet, self-effacing sister of Anne. Good support came from Helen Barley as Miep Gies, Jeremy Crane as Mr. Kraler and from the people playing the Guards and Civilians. The performance area has a balcony running across the side of the room and great use was made of this especially in the opening sequences. There is no stage at the centre and full use was made of the performance area depicting various rooms - kitchen, bedrooms etc. but I feel that this big space didn’t really convey the cramped conditions and the confinement in the attic that they all had to endure. Nevertheless it was an excellent production and really brought home the awful attrocities that existed and sadly, still exist today. Congratulations to Jane and the whole team but especially to the wonderful cast for all their hard work which must have been, for them all,  a very emotional experience.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.