Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Mar 26: The shining spirit of a Jew teenager Anne Frank, immortalized through her diary which she wrote during the period of hiding from the Nazis during World War II, has been a source of inspiration to a number of theatre professional across the globe to stage plays based on her life.
Thanks to Nepal’s One World Theatre, the iconic play in English, ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’, was staged on the fifth day of ongoing Jammu Chapter of 8th Theatre Olympiad being, organized by National School of Drama, in collaboration with J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, at the Abhinav Theatre, here today.
Written by playwrights Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich and directed by Deborah Merola, the play narrates the story of a young girl Anne Frank who went into hiding with her family, another Jewish family and an acquaintance during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
It is account of the people living in hiding, their psychological state, their challenges and a hope to come out from hiding and live their life. The characters on stage reflect their struggle to live life despite the fear and challenges. The well thought stage design was able to depict the hiding place with all its campiness wherein the inmates live an existence of growing tension and hostility – and occasional bursts of joy, with little to eat or drink, Constant reminder of the Nazi occupation is the large print in which the Nazi sign dominates the Stars of David.
The background sounds of phone ringing, dogs barking, gun shots, while accentuating the lurking presence of the outside hostile world also add to the emotional power of the scenes.
Rojita Buddhacharya was remarkable for portrayal of a bubbly 13-year-old Anne. Rose Schwietz as Mrs. Frank left her mark as the one who can keep her emotions in check, but shows her capacity to explode when the situation demands. Loonibha Tuladhar as Mrs Van Daan was appealing. Sajag Rana as Mr Dussel, moving here and there to find a space for him and being ignored by others was quite funny. Rajkuamr Pudasaini did a great role as a responsible father who is concerned to keep his family safe. Other actors who also gave impressive performances included Amrit Dahal as young Peter Vann Daan, Himanshu Goyal as Mr Kraler, Gopal Aryal as Mr Van Daan and Alize Biannic as Margot Frank.
Tomorrow, the Hindustani play Barff, directed by Saurabh Shukla will be staged by AGP World Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai.
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