Edward Alderton Theatre Home | News | This Season | Next Season | Bookings | Auditions | Members | Archive | History | Location | Links | Contact Us   The Diary of Anne Frank by Francis Goodrich and Albert Hackett Directed by Neal Flux 28 January - 4 February 1984 (7 performances) This play records the strain of the unusual life led by the families in the Annex, with the constant fear of the threat from outside and the pressures of co-existence from within. We see the problems of Anne's unfolding womanhood, her falling in love, her unswerving faith in her religion, and above all the shining nobility of her spirit... Cast Mr Frank Paul Jennings Miep Gies Carol La Roche Mrs Van Daan Jane Darling Mr Van Daan Steve Marshall Peter Van Daan Paul Castle Mrs Frank Shirley Andrews Margot Frank Georgia Robinson Anne Frank Susan Hampton Mr Kraler Martin Heard Mr Dussel Alan Rodman Crew Stage Manager Dave Phillips Assistant Stage Managers Lorri Simkins, Gret McElroy, Mitchell Cockrane Set Design Dave Phillips Costumes Brian Senner, Pam Leadley Lighting  Dennis Kingshott Sound Keith Dungate   Review Powerful and moving Spirited, compelling and poignant — the remarkable Diary of Anne Frank loses none of its pull in a powerful, moving production this week at the Edward Alderton Theatre, Bexleyheath. The company's talents are turned well to a sympathetic portrayal that puts flesh on the bones of the bestseller book, a journal of a Jewish girl growing up during two years cooped up with family and friends in hiding from the Nazis. The irrepressible Anne is played by Susan Hampton, who is right to lay the petulant teenager act on rather thick, reminding us in our admiration of the child's perception that this was the work of a girl troubled not only by the cares of a world at war, but also by her own considerable 'growing' pains. Anne was no angel. She is played as a headstrong girl who finds freedom from the hideout's confines through her writing. The diary born of these limits and a frustrated feeling that no-one understands her emergent self has touched a chord in millions of readers since her father discovered it after the family's betrayal and her death in Belsen. A strong cast feeds the force of Susan Hampton's fine performance with Anne's two closest allies doing most to set off her skills. Paul Jennings, as her father, plays a wonderful peacemaker binding the production together as Mr Frank does his family. Paul Castle, as Peter, the youthful object of Anne's affection, wins a warm response for just the right degree of awkwardness, conveying as much with movement as with his few words. There are lovely touches, too, among the fated group and the absence of weak links means the play's spell is never broken. Tennsion mounted well under director Neal Flux without ever sinking to melodrama or manufactured emotion. A simple, skilfully crafted production is the right vehicle for Anne Frank's famous, plainspoken words: "In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart...I can feel the suffering of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end..." S H Kentish Times | 2 February 1984