Review: THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK Is An Invocation to Choose Life Even In The Darkest Hours

The unremitting echoes of the Nazi onslaught pierce the silence of occupied Amsterdam's nights. Eight Jews retreat to a makeshift sanctuary. June 1942 to August 1944. The terror is palpable. Their tragic fate is inescapable fact. THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK is both a chronicle of human endurance and a testament to the unyielding power of hope in the midst of darkness. It is a reminder of Victor Frankl's observation in Man's Search for Meaning: "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

Anne Frank is the voice of Frankl's declaration, indeed a Biblical exhortation, to choose life. Spirited, petulant, questioning, in the dawn of her sexual awakening, and ever-hopeful, she is a zephyr of emotional energy. In Hale Centre Theatre's current production of the award-winning classic (recipient of the Tony and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama), high school ingénue Sarah Pansing plays Anne to the hilt, conferring upon the role a sensibility and sensitivity that one might expect of an old soul.

Pansing's performance is not enough to elevate the production to its required altitude. Certainly, the story and the script have gravitas enough to stir an audience's emotions. But, where this staging falls short is in the chemistry and energy or lack thereof among the cast. The lines read more like a recitation than a unified symphony of interconnected lives, falling flat on this reviewer's ears and heart. Nevertheless, even when the acting is stilted, the play still packs a punch.

If there is a moment that effectively strikes the most somber of chords and resonates, it is in the final scene when Anne's father Otto (Rob Stuart) returns to the place of his family's desperation and eloquently records the fate, one by one, of each of the human candles whose flames have been snuffed out by the Holocaust. It is a grim and gut-wrenching reminder of why Never Again is a categorical imperative.

Hale Centre Theatre's production of THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK runs through May 14th.

Photo credit to Nick Woodward-Shaw