NYSUMMERFEST PESENTS
ANNE FRANK LIVES
LAWRENCE KESSENICH
HUDSON GUILD THEATRE
JULY 2018.
A Review.
Triona Mc Morrow.
In the play Anne Frank Lives
by Watertown, MA. based playwright Lawrence Kessenich , the scene is
set early on with a powerful monologue from Anne. Her accent is very
effective, the lighting and set help to create just the right
atmosphere.
This plot is well-conceived. Anne
survives Bergen Belsen having been rescued by a Nazi soldier and
driven out of the camp. She stays with a couple on her way back home;
they nurse her back to health. However, on her trip to Amsterdam the
bus she takes crashes, she bangs her head and suffers amnesia. She
then goes to New York where she is offered a job and then Anne
begins to tell people she is Anne Frank.
She is admitted to a psychiatric
hospital with a diagnosis of delusional behavior. We are wondering
throughout whether she is Anne Frank; this creates great tension and
suspense. We meet other delusional characters at the hospital like
Marie Antoinette and FD Roosevelt. This adds to our uncertainty as
to whether this is the real Anne Frank.
The psychiatrist at the hospital played
by Preston Fritz Smith has a big role in guiding Anne. He is
convinced she is deluded. He plays the part with the gravitas we
would expect.
Otto , her father played by Chaz Mc
Cormack, is convincing in the role and her encounters with Otto are
fraught and very real. She has convinced Otto that she is his
daughter, because of details she included in her letters to him.
However, although she finally free to leave the hospital she does not
go with Otto. She has decided that she does not want to be Anne Frank
any longer because she is afraid that people would think that
everything about the holocaust was fiction.
Anne does leave the hospital alone.
There is a scene, where a nurse silently dresses her for the outside
, as if she is empowering her-- it is very effective. This
contrasts with the start of the play where the nurse undresses her—a
very powerful as a tool of dis-empowerment
.
The ghosts of
Peter played by Gabe Calleja , Margot, played by Marine d’Aoure and
Marie, played by Megan Grace Martinez work well in the play.
Thirsa van Til plays a very convincing
and sustained Anne Frank. The rest of the cast perform well, it is
almost a monologue with the rest of the cast supporting Thirsa.
The spare set and lighting were very
atmospheric.
There is great attention to detail in
the script. There was a small piece of plaid fabric attached with a
paper clip to the program. The fabric was similar to the cover of
Anne’s diary, the significance of the paper clip was that they were
invented by a German Jew.
This was a very enjoyable immersive
experience of theater. I believe this play would travel well.
Triona McMorrow lives in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin. She was shortlisted for the International Frances Ledwidge Poetry Competition in 2009, 2011 and 2016. She was shortlisted for the Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust Poetry Competition in 2013 and shortlisted for the Rush Poetry Competition in 2017.
Triona McMorrow lives in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin. She was shortlisted for the International Frances Ledwidge Poetry Competition in 2009, 2011 and 2016. She was shortlisted for the Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust Poetry Competition in 2013 and shortlisted for the Rush Poetry Competition in 2017.
