Reviews

The Diary of Anne Frank

| Off-West End |

16 March 2009

Thom Southerland‘s production is an awesome piece of ‘live experience’ theatre, for from the moment that we enter the auditorium we too become part of the ‘Secret Annexe’, silent witnesses in our space. The intricately designed set works magnificently, both because it encompasses every area that’s not the ramped seating area and because we enter through the same door as used by the actors (the secret door behind the bookcase). When it’s slammed shut we, like the families who have sought refuge here, are as trapped in the attic hideout as much as they are.

So, like them, we become as nervous and expectant at every sound heard from below and especially whenever we hear the opening of the door. Pat O’Sullivan’s sound design deserves special mention for not only is every effect perfectly pinpointed spatially but at the right level and intensity to convince, be it muffled sounds below, the bells outside or the radio broadcasts.

This production, adapted by Wendy Keselmen from the original 1955 Broadway version by Goodrich and Hackett, deftly interweaves narrative and action to take us through the three years from 1942 that the families lived out their lives in the attic until their discovery, arrest, transportation and death in the concentration camps with only Mr Frank surviving – the play beginning and ending with his reading of the diary that was discovered hidden under the floorboards.

All the characters are clearly delineated and the tensions between them well played out, though at times one wished for a little more of Anne’s exuberance and love of life to contrast with her temper and precociousness; one felt also that Mr Frank was not always portrayed here as the “gentle, quiet, caring and thoughtful” man that Anne writes of in her diary.

The Broadway is to be congratulated on yet another fine piece of ensemble theatre, for Thom Sutherland has created a carefully constructed and well paced piece, which with sympathetic lighting, superb sound design and beautifully balanced performances sets up some superb set pieces including several key moments of shock that are quite electrifying, sending shivers down the spine. This is the closest one can get to living the experience and with Anne’s words ringing in our ears – “I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are really good at heart” – we can only look at our world today and wonder.

– Dave J