Young Critics

What is life like for an energetic girl that gets her life put on hold during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam? The Delaware Theatre production of “The Diary of Anne Frank” allows the audience an amazing and powerful glimpse into the life of the Jewish Frank and Van Dann families during their two years of hiding.

Anne was a young girl of 13, full of energy and life, locked away in the secret annex in her father’s old building while the factory workers worked below. These families had to deal with the isolation and fear day in and day out. Fear of being discovered was always on their minds, and the knowledge that one bad move could end their lives was always present. They could not move, talk or use the bathroom at all during the daytime hours. They had to live together 24:7 and not go completely insane. From Anne to Mrs. Frank and from Mrs. Frank to Mrs. Van Dann, the tensions in the annex would run high.

Sara Kapner, who plays Anne, was incredible and rose to the occasion. She really made it seem like Anne Frank was standing before us, telling us everything that she was experiencing. When Anne was happy and energetic, you could feel her energy coming right at you; and when she froze up every time a car would go by, you knew the fear she was feeling. Sara conveyed Anne’s remarkable spirit and her desire to make the world remember who she was. Joel Leffert, playing Otto Frank, was also brilliant. He showed that Otto was very fearful but tried to hold the families together. At the end, he delivered the monologue telling the fates of the hideaways after they are discovered by the Nazis and lead away.

Performances by fellow cast members, Dori Legg, Nikki Coble, Maggie Kettering, Henry Raphael Glovinsky, Michael Boudewyns, Geradline Librandi, Paul L. Nolan, and John Morrison drew the audience into the feelings of fear, happiness, and anxiety and completed the story being told.

Lights dimming and spotlighting Anne when she would quote directly from the diary reminded the audience that the production was based on the real story and feelings of the 13-year-old girl during such a horrible time. The set of the annex was a clever way to show that the conditions were cramped and the families had very little privacy. The costumes for the cast were minimal making you aware that they had brought very little with them. Everyday sounds, such as footsteps, cars and the workers down below, were introduced to emphasize the level of tension that they families lived with.

During parts of the play I felt that it was funny yet scary, and happy yet angry. One second the families were laughing and joking; the audience with them. Then the mood would suddenly switch, perhaps due to a noise, a footstep. Something just was not right, and then the families and you remembered where they were and why.