The Diary of Anne Frank Review
By Jake Freeman
For a limited time, The Diary of Anne Frank is playing in Melbourne.The story is that of 13-year-old Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl hiding with her family for two years in Nazi occupied Amsterdam, in the Netherlands during World War II. Through Anne’s extraordinary diary, audiences are given an intimate view into the challenges, fears, and small triumphs of their life in hiding. Her diary would stand as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of extreme adversity and evil.
The diary was originally written in Dutch by Anne Frank when she was thirteen and continued until the Franks’ hiding place was discovered in 1944. The setting was the concealed annex of an office building, where Anne, her family, and a few others lived in seclusion to escape persecution by the Nazis.
Anne died in the Bergan-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, after the family’s capture and only a few months before liberation. Anne’s father, Otto Frank, the only member of the family to survive the war, published his daughter’s diary in 1947 after discovering it. The first English-language version was published in 1952. Since then, the diary has sold over 30 million copies worldwide and has been translated into nearly 70 languages. Its popularity inspired the 1955 play The Diary of Anne Frank by the screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, which they adapted for the screen for the 1959 movie version.
Anne’s articulate and insightful writing captures not only the daily struggles of life in hiding but also her dreams for a better future. The diary, along with many other literary and visual pieces of work such as Night, Night and Fog, Shoah andSchindler’s List, has played a crucial role in educating generations of people about the atrocities of the Holocaust and the importance of human rights and tolerance.
There was not an empty seat left in The Athenaeum Theatre on opening night last Thursday. The timing of the show’s premiere was appropriate given the recent rise of a new generation of anti-Semitic activity occurring in Australia and elsewhere with balaclava wearing Neo-Nazis marching the city streets, synagogues being attacked, swastikas spray-painted onto buildings and most horrifically, the Bondi Beach shooting, a massacre of 15 people during a Hanukah celebration.
The story opens in 1945 after World War II had ended. Otto Frank, (Phil Bedworth) Anne’s father, returns to the Amsterdam garret where his family hid for more than 2 years before being arrested by the Gestapo. He is accompanied by Miep Gies (Grace Tolich) and Mr. Kraler, (Kingsley Judd) his Christian employees who shielded the Jewish Frank family and four others.
When Otto searches for the diary kept by his youngest daughter, Anne, Miep promptly retrieves it for him. Otto holds the diary along with some other family items close to his chest and cries. The scene then shifts to several years earlier when Anne receives her red-checkered diary from her father for her thirteenth birthday, 12 June 1942. Anne begins writing, chronicling her daily activities, school, friends, thoughts and feelings.
The subject matter of Anne’s diary quickly shifts after her sister Margot (Emma Smith) receives a letter calling her to report to one of the concentration camps. The Franks decide that they need to leave, and Anne’s parents reveal that they have been preparing for them to hide in a secret annex above Otto Frank’s office. The Franks are soon joined by Mr. and Mrs. van Daan, (Matt Dyktynski & Asha Cornelia Clue) and their teenage son Peter, (Nathan Hampson) and Jan Dussel (Jamie Jewell) who will be hiding with them. The constant threat of discovery hovers over them in every scene and tensions are raised as each family struggles to remain hopeful.
Chloe-Jean Vincent leads this talented cast as Anne, giving an energetic, charismatic and optimistic performance. Phil Bedworth as Otto Frank is the emotional centre of the story. In Anne’s eyes, Otto is one of the kindest, smartest, most gentle and thoughtful fathers imaginable. The only member of the family to survive the war, he is filled with grief and survivors’ guilt and devotes the rest of his life to promoting Anne’s diary. Nathan Hampson as Peter van Daan, Anne’s love interest, also makes his presence felt and bringing some much-needed comic relief.
The lighting and sound techniques employed were very effective in grasping the audiences’ attention elevating them into an immersive experience. Everything from the sound of unknown footsteps, off stage gunfire, soldiers marching and doors slamming made the audience, along with the cast freeze in fear of what may come.
The Diary of Anne Frank is an emotional, intense, deeply moving but an uplifting and inspiring show. Yes, it ends with tragedy and sadness, but we remember and also admire Anne Frank for her ability to see the good in humanity despite living through such dark times. In the face of overwhelming evil, the families exhibit an unbroken spirit and will to survive. The best illustration of this triumph of spirit is when the families sing the Hanukkah song together. Even though they live in constant fear of death and must remain silent to avoid detection, they still manage to practise their faith.
It is also a strong reminder to future generations of the fragility of freedom and of the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit. The other main take away of this performance being here is to hopefully educate people about the Holocaust, to silence those who deny that the Holocaust ever happened, and to make sure people never forget so that history does not repeat itself. As Anne Frank had written in her diary in the final stages of the war, “How wonderful it is that nobody needs to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world”.
The Diary of Anne Frank is playing at The Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins St, Melbourne until and including Saturday 14 March 2026. It is presented by Drew Anthony Creative.
The running time for this show is approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes including a 20-minute interval. This production contains some violence as well as wartime and adult themes. It is only suitable for mature audiences. To learn more about the show to purchase tickets, go to The Diary of Anne Frank Tickets | Plays Show Times & Details | Ticketmaster AU
Production stills by Amanda Humphries.
