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February 27, 2009
Anne Frank story on the stage
Canadian playwright was inspired by the Jewish Holocaust victim.
SARA NEWHAM
For playwright Lee Cookson, the journey to writing Anne Frank is in My Dreams began with his own unintended fixation on the Jewish heroine after seeing a production of The Diary of Anne Frank in Calgary.
Cookson had gone to the play with low expectations but the story that took place on stage mesmerized him.
"The whole experience was so powerful that I just could not get her [Anne Frank] out of my mind," said Cookson, who has his own theatre company, Humble Wonder Theatre. "I would go to school and I would walk down the hallway and I would see a girl and I would be like: 'Oh my God, it's Anne Frank. That girl she looks just like Anne Frank.' Everything was just through this weird Anne Frank-filter."
His fixation on Frank even crept into his dreams, Cookson admitted. "[They were] very involved dreams in either modern settings or past settings that involved Anne Frank. Then I read Diary again and just kinda started getting more into Anne Frank and [I thought] this is a great place to start a play," he said.
And that he did.
The details may be different, but Anne Frank is in My Dreams was inspired and born of the experience Cookson had. Produced by Twenty-Something Theatre, the play centres on the story of Pete, who writes 30-word book synopses for a publishing company. Pete, played by Peter Carlone, had greater aspirations for himself at one point but his lonely, staid life begins to change after a new edition of The Diary of Anne Frank lands on his desk. When he starts reading the book – like Cookson – he can't stop thinking about Frank.
"He essentially experiences the same things I did where Anne Frank completely consumes his life, literally. She shows up in the day, she shows up at night in his dreams when he's sleeping, anytime, anywhere," said Cookson.
At the same time, Pete meets a feisty new intern at his office, Anna – played by Fernanda Fukamati – who becomes the first real relationship he has had in some time. "There's this kind of duality going on between Anne Frank and this new woman in his office, Anna. It's essentially how Pete finds life," said Cookson, who reveals that Anne Frank is a character in the play.
"There's a lot of direct usage of the diary itself. The whole play is influenced by the diary itself and by the language of the diary."
Cookson, who attended the University of Victoria theatre program for years before working for six months with a theatre company in Massachussetts, was very inspired by Frank's story. Even as a non-Jewish writer, he found a common human bond to her.
"Anne Frank is someone who, while being such a strong symbol of Judaism, is recognizable to everybody. Everybody knows about Anne Frank," said Cookson, who grew up in Calgary. "I'm not Jewish and I don't hold that connection to her but there's a clear symbol of the human condition in general that I see in Anne Frank and that's what I wanted to approach in the play: what does Anne Frank mean to me, a white, non-Jewish Canadian who's grown up in middle-class luxury his entire life? What do I see in Anne Frank that I can connect to and understand?"
The play will be on stage at Havana Theatre and marks the return of Twenty-Something Theatre's Spotlight production, which gives a local, emerging artist a chance to shine. This year's show includes up-and-coming director Fay Nass. Originally from Tehran, Iran, Nass moved to Canada in 2000, enrolled in acting classes and pushed herself to learn English as quickly as possible. Nass attended the University of Victoria theatre program and has since made the leap into professional theatre.
So with this young, international troupe of artists at the helm, what can audiences expect from this first, full performance of Anne Frank is in My Dreams?
"I hope they'll be able to hold just for a second the feeling and emotion that I had when I experienced Anne Frank," said Cookson. "What I hope an audience will get from any play that I write or am a part of is the idea that they might be able to experience the intangible and just hold it for a second."
Anne Frank will run from March 3-8. Tickets are $10 (preview), $15 for students/seniors (with ID) and $20 regular price. They are available at the door or from Tickets Tonight at www.ticketstonight.ca or 604-684-2787.
Sara Newham is a Vancouver freelance writer.
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