“Fishman is incredible … Most of all she conjures up the ‘what if?’ so eloquently that, in our current uncertain and chaotic world, it serves as a forceful reminder of the horrors that war brings – the horror of
annihilating another’s future.”
Alethea Mouhtouris
4.5 Stars
Playhouse, Sydney Opera House
Until 21 September
The story of German-born Jewish teenager Anne Frank is well-known, initially set out in her diary before she perished in the horrors of the Holocaust, and consequently memorialised by her sole remaining relative, her father Otto.
Anne Being Frank, written by Ron Elisha and directed by Amanda Brooke Lerner, explores the concept, what if Anne kept writing? What if, as a published author, she was given the opportunity to rewrite her diary which ended abruptly after Anne and her family were found hiding in an annex and sent to Auschwitz, and later Bergen Belsen.
In the diary Anne expressed her belief that there is good in every person. Would that message remain intact after her experiences in the camp? As she says, ‘When I wrote my diary, it was a book without an ending. I never imagined there wouldn’t be a future.’
In this 90-minute solo show, Alexis Fishman portrays Anne as three complex characters. Anne the teenage diary writer trapped in the Amsterdam annex but with future dreams; Anne the elegant worldly young woman who, in New York in an imaginary future, is spitballing a rewrite of her diary with her publisher; and Anne the despairing prisoner who is struggling to survive in the monstrous reality of Belsen.
Not only to survive, in fact, but to exist, to find solace in writing without notepaper, without pencil, in a place without goodness or hope, and often without light. While there’s no need for me to detail the evil transpires in this production, it’s fair to say that my own image of
Anne is irrevocably changed, and reflective of the reality of war and all the horrors she witnessed and experienced.
Fishman dances seamlessly between the three Annes. In the annex, her face shines with delight as she writes about the glorious future she sees for herself (Paris! wine! dashing young French men!); an elegant maturity as a soon-to-be published young author in New York; and despair blended with the miniscule joys she seizes as a prisoner sourcing pencil and paper – she must write!
Fishman is incredible, fully embodying all the Annes and keeping the audience enthralled. Most of all she conjures up the ‘what if?’ so eloquently that, in our current uncertain and chaotic world, it serves as a forceful reminder of the horrors that war brings – the horror of
annihilating another’s future.
The set is cleverly designed. Anne’s annex bedroom is a sanctuary complete with celebrity posters and postcards of the era like any teenager, the New York office is vibrant and colourful, and Belsen is stark and hopeless, surrounded by wooden and metal fences.
Winner of Broadway World Awards 2023 – Best of Solo Performance and Best Production of a Play, Anne Being Frank is well worth seeing, if only to remind ourselves that war brings nothing but death, destruction, and an end to our humanity.
Photo credit: Grant Leslie.
Alethea Mouhtouris, Theatre Now
