The Diary of Anne Frank will be performed from the 17th-18th June in The Jack Hylton Room. Lancaster University
Cast & Crew
Annator: Aurelia Gage
Assistant Director: Connor Gould Shadow Director: Renee Cr Producer: Walker Zupp Assistant Producer: Samantha Mager Shadow Producer: Leonie Brunnert Stage Manager: Paula Kolar Assistant Stage Managers: Georgina Timms, Andrew Caton, Lisa Minji- Kim Anne Frank: Anna Rose Van Der Wiel Otto Frank: James Bone Edith Frank: Gail Breslin Margot Frank: Natalie Fisher Herman Van Daan: Connor Axiotes Auguste Van Daan: Chiara Wakely Peter Van Daan: Santi Guillamon Miep Gies: Charlie Larner Albert Dussel: Mike Narouai |
Otto Frank returns to a secret hiding place in which he and his family have lived during the first part of the Holocaust in Amsterdam. His friend, Miep Gies, has saved a diary that his daughter Anne kept during that time. Otto begins reading the diary aloud, and the play follows Anne's thoughts and actions, as well as those of the others hiding in the Secret Annex.
The Franks and another Jewish family try to co-exist peacefully in a small apartment of rooms, hidden behind a bookcase in Otto Frank's office in Amsterdam. They must hide from the Nazis who are exterminating Jewish citizens during the Holocaust. The family members may not make noise or leave the annex for fear of being discovered. Only Miep Gies and Jan Kraler are allowed to know of their existence; they help the families by bringing them necessary items and food. Anne keeps a diary and records the trials and tribulations experienced by the families, as well as her own coming of age in a tiny room surrounded by frustration, selfishness, and a heaping dose of fear. She battles low spirits, teenage issues, and loneliness before her family is discovered and arrested by the Nazis. |
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- "In spite of everything, I believe that people are truly good at heart"
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Publicity & Trailer
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Rehearsal Photos
Performance
Review
It is to my great shame that the last LUTG show of my three years at Lancaster was also the first I have attended. ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ brought the curtain down on a great year for the society in which they have staged classics such as Much Ado About Nothing and 1984, as well as originals like House With a Red Door and The Glass House.
The Diary of Anne Frank is only the second of this year’s productions (after Parade) to be based on a true story, the details of which are familiar to everyone reading I’m sure. In 1947, Otto Frank published a manuscript of his daughter Anne’s diary, which she had written between 1942 and 1944 while her family and several others were secreted from the Nazis in the annexe of a house in Amsterdam. Anne’s diary represents optimism in extreme conditions, which is one reason why it has endured throughout the years.
The play begins as the Franks and the Van Daans move into the annexe, where Anne’s kindly father Otto (James Bone) explains that they must endeavour to be as quiet as possible – no using the toilet, walking in shoes, or speaking loudly between 8am and 6pm. Under such conditions, relationships soon begin to fray. Hermen van Daan (Connor Axiotes) grows quickly frustrated with Anne’s talkativeness, while the arrival of Albert Dussel (Mike Narouei) increases the strain on the already stretched group.
It’s interesting in a student production for all the characters to be of such different ages, but it was something that never bothered me. Anna-Rose van der Wiel brings a believable youthful innocence to Anne. Certain famous extracts of Anne’s diary may lead one to believe that she was some sort of wunderkind philosopher, a poet of the human soul. But other extracts show that she was just a teenage girl – struggling with algebra, arguing with her parents, falling in love. “Their lives weren’t how they ended, their lives were how they were lived” was the quote that stuck with me from interviewing the cast and crew last week. Just because we know their tragic ends doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate these characters as human beings, rather than as victims.
In Broadway productions, the set is often a multi-room doll house-like affair, which is not possible on a student budget. However, the more compact set-up actually works surprisingly well. The small space helps to create a sense of claustrophobia, with at least seven characters on stage at any one time. It’s easy to see how this environment breeds enmity among the inhabitants. Holding the group together is Otto, whose love for his family and general good-heartedness is brilliantly brought across by James Bone. His calming presence is much-needed as the group threatens to tear itself apart.
This play teaches us that even in the saddest of stories there are moments which are humorous and heartfelt. The first act concludes with a particularly heart-warming sequence in which an excitable Anne gives presents to the other inhabitants of the annexe, before they join together to sing a song for Hanukkah.
The joy is tinged, always, with poignancy, particularly when they celebrate upon hearing news of the D-Day landings. For a moment, they believe that things may return to normal, and that they may be able to resume their lives. Knowing that they were caught, less than a year before the Netherlands was liberated, tinges these moments of joy with incredible sadness.
Director Aurelia Gage can feel justifiably proud of her final LUTG production, and this pride should be shared by all members of the cast and crew. There were a few minor slip-ups but nothing that ruined the immersiveness of the performance. For those of us who knew Anne Frank and her family only as victims of a horrible atrocity, this paints a much more vivid, rich image of life. You never forget who they are or what happened to them, but you allow yourself to be swept up in their lives as ongoing narratives, not as doomed crescendos towards tragic ends.
I hope that others do not make the same mistake as I and put off going to LUTG shows for so long. When I interviewed the cast and crew of 1984 a few months ago, they were effusive in their praise for the society. “I’m just proud of what we do”, James Bone told me. “Most people wouldn’t put on four shows a year, and we put on thirteen”. LUTG is one of the great things about Lancaster University, and should not be taken for granted
- Written by Sean Drury
The Diary of Anne Frank is only the second of this year’s productions (after Parade) to be based on a true story, the details of which are familiar to everyone reading I’m sure. In 1947, Otto Frank published a manuscript of his daughter Anne’s diary, which she had written between 1942 and 1944 while her family and several others were secreted from the Nazis in the annexe of a house in Amsterdam. Anne’s diary represents optimism in extreme conditions, which is one reason why it has endured throughout the years.
The play begins as the Franks and the Van Daans move into the annexe, where Anne’s kindly father Otto (James Bone) explains that they must endeavour to be as quiet as possible – no using the toilet, walking in shoes, or speaking loudly between 8am and 6pm. Under such conditions, relationships soon begin to fray. Hermen van Daan (Connor Axiotes) grows quickly frustrated with Anne’s talkativeness, while the arrival of Albert Dussel (Mike Narouei) increases the strain on the already stretched group.
It’s interesting in a student production for all the characters to be of such different ages, but it was something that never bothered me. Anna-Rose van der Wiel brings a believable youthful innocence to Anne. Certain famous extracts of Anne’s diary may lead one to believe that she was some sort of wunderkind philosopher, a poet of the human soul. But other extracts show that she was just a teenage girl – struggling with algebra, arguing with her parents, falling in love. “Their lives weren’t how they ended, their lives were how they were lived” was the quote that stuck with me from interviewing the cast and crew last week. Just because we know their tragic ends doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate these characters as human beings, rather than as victims.
In Broadway productions, the set is often a multi-room doll house-like affair, which is not possible on a student budget. However, the more compact set-up actually works surprisingly well. The small space helps to create a sense of claustrophobia, with at least seven characters on stage at any one time. It’s easy to see how this environment breeds enmity among the inhabitants. Holding the group together is Otto, whose love for his family and general good-heartedness is brilliantly brought across by James Bone. His calming presence is much-needed as the group threatens to tear itself apart.
This play teaches us that even in the saddest of stories there are moments which are humorous and heartfelt. The first act concludes with a particularly heart-warming sequence in which an excitable Anne gives presents to the other inhabitants of the annexe, before they join together to sing a song for Hanukkah.
The joy is tinged, always, with poignancy, particularly when they celebrate upon hearing news of the D-Day landings. For a moment, they believe that things may return to normal, and that they may be able to resume their lives. Knowing that they were caught, less than a year before the Netherlands was liberated, tinges these moments of joy with incredible sadness.
Director Aurelia Gage can feel justifiably proud of her final LUTG production, and this pride should be shared by all members of the cast and crew. There were a few minor slip-ups but nothing that ruined the immersiveness of the performance. For those of us who knew Anne Frank and her family only as victims of a horrible atrocity, this paints a much more vivid, rich image of life. You never forget who they are or what happened to them, but you allow yourself to be swept up in their lives as ongoing narratives, not as doomed crescendos towards tragic ends.
I hope that others do not make the same mistake as I and put off going to LUTG shows for so long. When I interviewed the cast and crew of 1984 a few months ago, they were effusive in their praise for the society. “I’m just proud of what we do”, James Bone told me. “Most people wouldn’t put on four shows a year, and we put on thirteen”. LUTG is one of the great things about Lancaster University, and should not be taken for granted
- Written by Sean Drury
