The Curtain Calls

The Curtain Calls
Central Pennsylvania Theater Reviews

“The Diary of Anne Frank” at Open Stage
February 4 – March 5

by Lisa Paige-Stone

Berlin. 1920s. Hitler’s minority Nazi Party joins Germany’s ruling coalition and Hitler begins his rise to power.

Vienna. 2000. Joerg Haider’s minority Freiheit Party joins Austria’s ruling coalition and, ignoring protests in the streets, Haider, the direct descendant of long-time Nazi Party members, smiles and waves from the platform to his political supporters. Despite having publicly complimented the Nazis for their “efficient employment practices” among other things, he denies having a Nazi agenda.

What more appropriate time to be reminded of the potential for tragedy in a quiet, political move?

Thus, there could be no more appropriate time to watch the lights come up at Open Stage on Wendy Kesselman’s Pulitzer Prize winning adaptation of “The Diary of Anne Frank.”

Act I. Amsterdam.1940s. Nazi troops have moved into Holland and the Gestapo is rounding up Jews like cattle and herding them onto trains bound for the “work camps” of the “East” — Bergen-Belsen, Auschwitz … The Frank and Van Daan families take refuge in a tiny annex apartment above Otto Frank’s manufacturing concern. As the lights come up, the cast enters as a group. Immediately the audience senses the claustrophobia of their narrow two-storied living space, represented on stage by three levels. Open Stage’s intimate space accommodates the play well; the audience is close to the characters, all of whom are on stage throughout. This dramatic technique increases audience involvement; the experience is voyeuristic as characters are seen changing for bed, crawling under thin blankets, sitting quietly, alone, in the dark.

The kitchen, the group’s main living space, is cramped and primitive, especially compared to what these financially comfortable families must have been accustomed to before. The bedrooms are sparsely furnished with depressing cots with striped mattress ticking, bare wooden tables — all symbolic of what is to come.

This grim atmosphere is broken only by “Anna’s” enthusiasm for what she at first sees as an “adventure” — the opportunity to share space with another family, to get to know others intimately in a way otherwise impossible in German culture, which is very private. She is ebulliently young and naively unaware of how soon the narrowness of the existence the families are forced to endure will oppress her.

Months pass. The cramped quarters begin to affect everyone. No one may go outdoors — ever. During the workday, no one may move about unnecessarily or speak, because the workers downstairs could hear voices or footsteps and no one is to be trusted. These restraints on normal behavior naturally cause tension and frustration and soon everyone is bickering, and relationships deteriorate further with the addition of another refugee (Mr. Dussel, played by Jim Lewis) and the strain his needs and volatile personality contribute.

Act II. Anne’s joie de vivre persists despite her nightmares and her loneliness, despite her longing to see beyond the blackened windows or to feel the lift of fresh air. Rations are dwindling but hope finally rises when Miep (Valerie Zehring) arrives with news of the Allied Invasion. Ironically, the families are betrayed just after they begin to plan the rest of their lives.

The entire Open Stage cast is exceptional, but Sophia Van Doren, (pictured above) the twelve-year-old who plays Anne, shines as brightly as one of the evening stars her character longs to see. She radiates repressed adolescent energy, impatiently flouncing into her chair with her pen and diary, chasing the shy Peter Van Daan (Julian Miller) into his room and eventually his heart, passionately defying her elders when they behave more childishly than she. In fact, Van Doren achieves the impossible — her performance temporarily revives the lost Anne.

Epilogue. The brilliance of Van Doren’s performance heightens the audience’s sense of loss when Otto Frank (Jon Liebetrau) appears alone at the play’s conclusion. The only survivor in the family, he recites the details of the deaths of his family and friends. Silence descends like a shroud. So shocked and saddened are the audience — despite the fact that the conclusion is foregone — that when the lights go down for good on the play, it seems inappropriate to applaud, and in fact long uncomfortable moments pass before the 21st Century seems once again the prevailing reality. The applause erupts, but the mood remains appreciatively solemn. After all, “Anne Frank” is not fiction.

With this staging and its community outreach, Open Stage has proved itself yet again to be not only the provider of first class theatre but also a serious contributor to this community in terms of education and political commentary. Nothing can revive the millions whose lives were lost in the Holocaust, but this outstanding production does revive the outrage. Perhaps future loss can be prevented.

“The Diary of Anne Frank” runs through March 5. For more information, call 232-6736. And if you can make it, guest speaker Jack Polak, a survivor of Bergen-Belsen where Anne Frank died, and a founder of the Anne Frank Center, USA, will open the travelling exhibit “The Anne Frank Story” with an appearance at the Capital Area Intermediate Unit in Summerdale on Feb. 28th at 10 a.m.