To say that The Diary of Anne Frank is an influential work of literature is an understatement. The novel is actually a diary, written by a young girl hiding from the Nazis in a tiny annex, chronicles her two years living in fear and hope as the world’s cruelties are barely kept at bay. Seven other people, including her parents and older sister Margot, plus the Van Daan family, and a dentist Mr. Dussel, shared the tiny space. The diary recorded her yearnings and insights, her soaring thoughts and petty quarrels, and intimate details of her blossoming into adolescence. The last entry, hastily scribbled as the Nazis rounded up the family to send them to work camps and ultimately to death camps, was discovered by their helpers, Miep Gies and Mr. Kraler, and held in hopes that someone survived. Anne’s father Otto, the only survivor of the death camps, recovered the diary. Later, it was published and stands today, 73 years later, as one of the most important works of the 20th century.
The IRT’s production is a searing emotional experience carried on the shoulders of Miranda Troutt. Alternately hopeful and fearful, her Anne takes the audience back to adolescence and its swings between youthful bravado and insecurity. Her love for her father (Ryan Artzberger) and disdain for her mother (Betsy Schwartz), her impatience with the fussy Mr. Dussel (Rob Johansen), and dislike for the Van Daans (Constance Macy and Robert Neal) are the feelings any school girl can appreciate. This is, after all, the age when grown-ups are always wrong and little girls are always right. Her complex romantic feelings for Peter Van Daan (Benjamin N.M. Ludiker) are explored, and it turns out she turns her affections to the only person who would be suitable in their situation. Her quiet, sickly sister Margot (Hannah Ruwe) is fussed over, then chided. The only people Anne truly loves besides her father, it seems, are Miep Gies (Sydney Andrews) and Mr. Kraler (Mark Goetzinger).
“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are good at heart,” she wrote all those years ago. The anger and frustration, the hope and joy, the complicated transition from childhood to adolscence made even more difficult by close quarters and constant fear, are unforgettable. Janet Allen leads the IRT’s production with sensitivity, moving the actors through a great set by Bill Clarke.
Prepare to be moved and shaken by The Diary of Anne Frank through February 24. Tickets are available online at irtlive.com or by calling 317-635-5252.
