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Oct. 7, 2005
Play worth witnessing
Anne's diary comes to life at Stanley, despite flaws.
BAILA LAZARUS
I wasn't particularly impressed with The Diary of Anne Frank,
now playing at the Stanley Theatre, but I say so with reservations.
The reservations are because I think this is a play that should
be seen, despite its flaws, especially by those who may have heard
of Frank and her diary but who may not know the circumstances of
her life and death. It portrays the story of Anne and her family
in a heartfelt and intelligent manner and ends in a climax the audience
won't soon forget.
Narration from Anne's diary sets the scene in 1942 Holland when
the Frank family – Otto (Richard Newman), Edith (Jennifer Clement)
and daughters Margot (Anna Cummer) and Anne (Anastasia Phillips)
go into hiding in an annex hidden behind an office bookcase. They
are joined by Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan (Bill Dow and Gina Chiarelli)
and their son, Peter (Ryan Beil) – and later by the dentist,
Mr. Dussel (Sean Devine).
They are among the very few who not only had a place to hide but
who had friends who would take care of them, buying food and other
necessities.
Otto Frank sternly warns the group that there can be absolutely
no movement during office hours – no running water, no use
of the toilet, not even any talking. They have to be very careful
that they don't get sick so that there's no fear of someone accidentally
coughing during the day and they can't throw out any garbage, lest
someone notice something that looks out of place. They are prisoners
in the tiny annex and loft that has three small bedrooms to sleep
eight people.
These restrictions are especially hard on Anne, written in the newly
adapted play by Wendy Kesselman as a boisterous, precocious teen
who starts out excited about the move, calling it an "adventure,"
trying to keep everyone's spirits up.
After the rules are explained and sleeping places allotted, the
group starts to settle into a seemingly "normal" routine
– eating, reading, arguing, joking.
There are moments of tension, such as when a siren starts to get
closer and closer to the little hideaway, or when the group hears
movement in the office building downstairs when everybody should
be gone. And there are profound moments of irony, too, such as when
Margot worries that their friend, Miep Gies, who is helping them,
is using fake names on food ration books: "We've never done
anything illegal before," Margot says. Or when Anne writes
in her diary, "I hope mother will never read this."
Aside from these and a few other foreshadowing of events, however,
the reality of the war never seems to enter the little annex. In
fact, there are times when one can totally forget where the play
is heading.
That might have been what Kesselman and director Rachel Ditor had
in mind – to portray a simple story of two families forced
to live together, with conflict and resolution, laughter and tears.
The problem is that there is a danger of going too far in trying
to bring normalcy to the situation. There are times, such as when
the families are trying to divide a cake equally into eight tiny
pieces, that the scene turns into something from a sitcom, rather
than an observation of life in the annex after one and a half years.
At one point, Anne and Peter go off together into the attic. As
the two saunter up the stairs, Mrs. Van Daan says, "Don't forget
to be down by nine," garnering laughter from the audience that
sounded like a like a laugh track. In other words, it seemed like
the humor was written in, not because it made sense in that situation,
but because the author wanted to lighten the script.
I didn't want a dark play, but I expected to feel more tension in
the house than what was portrayed on stage. Good grief – eight
people sharing cramped quarters for two years. You have to know
they would want to kill each other now and again. While the script
did have moments where the flatmates argued, these were fleeting.
Most of the direction played up Anne's spiritedness. From the first
day, she is skipping and singing her way around the annex in a way
that made me think of Annie rather than Anne. And, given the sombre
voice that narrates parts of the play using excerpts of the diary,
the Anne on stage and the Anne reading the diary seem like two completely
different people.
Added to these shortcomings was some inconsistent acting. I loved
Devine's portrayal of the felinophobic, socially awkward dentist;
but Chiarelli, who starred in A Streetcar Named Desire at
the Norman Rothstein Theatre earlier this year, brought Blanche
Dubois back to life here, complete with the long, drawn-out vowels
and hanky held delicately to her forehead. I could have sworn it
was Blanche up there saying, "Ah am a laaaayydy."
The Diary of Anne Frank plays at the Stanley Theatre until
Oct. 26. Call 604-687-1644 for tickets.
Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer, photographer and
illustrator living in Vancouver.
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