Anne Frank still can’t escape from the past
It might be argued that playwright Alix Sobler’s reimagining of Anne Frank’s fate flirts with questionable taste. As it happens, this journey into an ahistorical twilight zone, one in which Anne and her fellow fugitives survive the hell of Nazi- occupied Amsterdam, is a thoughtful, often poignant mix of mourning and celebration. With its gradual shift from Anne’s sunny, carefree days in 1950s Brooklyn, to her dark obsessing over the past, it’s also a heartfelt exploration of survivor’s guilt and post- traumatic stress. Hovering over it is the troubling question of whether the diary would have made such an impact without the unspeakable reality of her final days in BergenBelsen.
Unfortunately, the dramatic style of The Secret Annex proves too stuffily conventional to let all its ideas breathe. It feels, at times, like something stuck in the ‘ 50s itself. A forbidden kiss inopportunely interrupted, a sibling spat in the bridal wear fitting room: These are just two examples of its slightly creaky narrative devices.
It’s conceivable that Sobler is knowingly borrowing from period melodrama to point up the artifice of everything we’re watching. But it’s more likely that the boldness of the conceit has outstripped the originality of her writing. ( Her winning of the Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition for a more recent play suggests she’s learning from experience.)
Thankfully, we get Sara Farb playing Anne, the younger version of whom she played to great acclaim at Stratford last year. It’s also crisply directed by Marcia Kash, who is something of an Anne Frank expert herself, having directed the Diary three times, once at the Segal.
We recognize, through Farb’s mesmerizing performance, that winsome, truculent, interminably talkative, endlessly curious teenager, but with those 10 impossible years added on. There’s a lovely moment which encapsulates all these flaws and qualities when, jabbering away during a job interview, she kicks her legs with childish excitement, then, without thinking, gets up and plonks herself in the boss’s chair, leaving the boss himself to meekly perch in the interviewee’s chair. Marcel Jeannin plays her boss, and later her lover, with great charm, building up a real rapport with Farb.
Brett Donahue is likable as Peter Van Pels, but a little stiff and perhaps overwhelmed by Farb’s firecracker performance. But it seems apt for playing the older version of that much put- upon adolescent who fell for Anne. Similarly, Anne Cassar, as the famously overshadowed sister Margot, does a solid job of being overshadowed.
There’s a more pugnacious turn from Judith Baribeau as Virginia Belair, the tough- as- nails editor who tries to railroad Anne into knocking her memoirs into shape. Her three scenes with Farb are great fun, but they’re basically the same three scenes. Perhaps here, as elsewhere, Sobler would have benefitted from some straight talk from her own personal Ms. Belair.
A quick word about Cock, which launches new Montreal company Playshed. Written by British playwright Mike Bartlett, it stars Mike Payette as a young gay man who astonishes himself and his partner ( Eloi ArchamBaudoin) by falling for a woman ( Melanie Sirois).
The ensemble playing, completed by Michel Perron, is excellent, director Liz Valdez skilfully guiding the actors through the witty jagged dialogue and complex physical business ( including a delightful bitchfest of a dinner party).
Yes, the play’s erotic and a bit sweary, but not so much as that needlessly provocative title would have you believe. Still, it does give us the opportunity to say that, as an introductory showcase for this new company, Cock impressively rises to the occasion. It plays at the MAI Centre to Feb 14. Call 514- 9823386 or visit m- a- i. qc. ca.