Anne Frank is a name synonymous with youth, innocence, and heartbreaking tragedy. Her diaries, published after her death in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, detailed her life, and that of her family, hiding in an annex in Amsterdam during World War II. The Diary of a Young Girl, commonly referred to as The Diary of Anne Frank, was published in 1947 and has since been published in 65 languages worldwide.
Anne Being Frank at the Sydney Opera House re-imagines a world in which Frank survives the war and the horrors of the Holocaust and is able to reflect on her own words while discussing the publication of her diaries. Throughout the play, writer Ron Elisha explores three different narratives. The first is in the annex where Frank hid with her family from 1942 until 1944, the second is in the concentration camp where she continues to write about her experiences until her death from typhoid in 1945, and the third is in a New York publishing house discussing edits to her diaries with an editor.
Alexis Fishman as Anne Frank is remarkable. Tasked with a huge amount of dialogue and a dark subject matter, Fishman jumps between realities, and characters, seamlessly. She brings the emotional depth and breadth to the role that is required, holding your hand on what is a harrowing journey.
The set design by Jacob Battista is subtle and effective. There are three clearly delineated areas – the NYC publishing office, the annex and the concentration camp – each defined by simple, yet impactful details. Fishman moves freely through the spaces, moving a photograph of Clark Gable from the publishing office into the annex, draping a colourful scarf over her bed in the concentration camp, connecting the three phases of her life.
Since the publication of The Diary of Anne Frank, there have been numerous conversations addressing aspects of her story, one of which focuses on Frank’s comment that ‘In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart’. It has been pointed out by Holocaust survivors that this sentiment, expressed prior to being transported to a concentration camp, somewhat absolves people of responsibility and glosses over the real tragedy of the death camps.
I suspect, through Anne Being Frank, Elisha is exploring this idea. This re-imagining of her life affords Frank the opportunity to reassess her own convictions with the knowledge of the atrocities that would await her in the concentration camp. However, something felt lost in its execution and the three-narrative structure felt confused.
While Frank’s experience prior to August 1944 is detailed in her diaries, her life after she was captured by the Nazis is largely unknown. This lends itself to the assumption that the story constructed within the concentration camp is fabrication, no doubt derived from others’ real-life experiences.
Appreciating the writer’s intention may have been to challenge this idea of people being basically good at heart, I believe the same impact could have been achieved if the play focused on Frank’s time in the annex and then jumps to several years after the war, once she is reunited with her father (who was the only family member to survive the camps), where she discusses edits of her diary with a New York editor.
Frank could have expressed her internal conflict at her previous thoughts, having now survived the concentration camp, and question what she now believes about humanity. She could have been shown having discussions with her father about the value of publishing her work, and the pain that comes from the editing process and reliving the past. This would have presented a more nuanced and clearer narrative arc, while also delving into the psychological aftermath of trauma and its longstanding impacts.
While Fishman’s performance and the construction of the play itself is exceptional, there is something in the narrative structure that doesn’t resonate with me. I believe that when you embellish on the story of another, it should be with clear intent and reason, and unfortunately, I just didn’t see it.
THREE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Anne Being Frank will perform at the Sydney Opera House until 21 September 2025.
For more information and to purchase tickets head to the Sydney Opera House website.
Reviewer attended on Sunday 14th September 2025.
Photo credit: Grant Leslie
