The Diary of Anne Frank Rehearsal Blog

Fri 03 Feb 2012

Hi! I’m Anna Lowe, a final year history student at the University of York working as the historical consultant for The Diary of Anne Frank. Having been suddenly thrust into a world of costumes, props, clammy rehearsal rooms and an intimidating amount of creative talent, it makes sense to first tell you how I got here…

I’ve always known the cultural industries is where I want to work and feel strongly that educating people using the arts, in museums or on the stage, has a far larger impact than simply reading books. So it was really this interest that led me initially to the York Museums Trust and then on to Amsterdam to work in the Anne Frank House for the Summer of 2011.

In one of those rare moments where an opportunity arises out of a strange coincidence, I was asked by a colleague to help give a tour of the house for “a couple of guys putting on a play of Anne Frank.” Over coffee Nikolai and Morgan explained how the play was to start at the York Theatre Royal and so, back in York on very cloudy, very wet January morning I ditched my weekly seminar reading and headed off to the theatre, running over important dates in World War Two all the way.

From the very start rehearsals have gone at an incredible pace and things took shape immediately.  I’m not sure quite what I expected, but from the outset it was clear that the cast is full of energy and enthusiasm for the text and for its potential to really mean something. In the small white box which forms our rehearsal room, a piece that is both interesting in terms of drama, but also true to the Anne’s imagination and her text, it being created.

For me, it’s not always easy to know where the historical reality should stop and where the artistic representation can begin. With a play like The Diary of Anne Frank one must be careful not to destroy the drama with an overbearing sense of futility in the face of the Holocaust. Similarly, in order to create entertaining characters like the ones in Anne’s imagination, it is important not to dwell too heavily on the reality of those mentioned in the play. For example, it would be an impossible task to reconcile Anne’s perception of her mother with what we, with hindsight, know about Edith Frank. Occasionally I find myself biting my lip, trying not to analyse a line in terms of if it’s historically ‘correct’.  But overall the transition from history to theatre seems to flow rather effortlessly. My job is about helping the actors understand their character and illuminate the context of wartime Europe. Hopefully my experiences at the Anne Frank House can stimulate their creativity and answer any niggling questions.