Review by Léane Debize

I first learned about Anne Frank when my stepdad gifted me her diary many years ago. It was published in 1947 after World War II. In there, she shares her story, the one of a young girl growing up in Europe in the 1930s from going into hiding in Amsterdam with her family, living in the annex away from the world for two years to being deported to Auschwitz before Bergen-Belsen where she will live her last days. This book is life-altering, it is a deeply emotional and raw story of a young girl who dreamt of becoming an author who could make an impact on the world. Something she still gets to do despite everything.

Anne Being Frank is a play by Ron Elisha, starring Alexis Fishman in a one-woman show. It premiered in Australia last week at the Opera House where she performed the play 11 times in a week. It asks us viewers to consider what “could have been” and moves between three worlds – the secret annex where Anne’s family are in hiding; Bergen Belsen where, sick and starving, she lives out her final days; and an unfulfilled future in a New York publishing house where we meet the bright, debut author who with devastating new insight is rewriting her manuscript for publication. Her editor dearly wishes to maintain the innocence of the original, but Anne is on a quest to tell the truth.

Anne Being Frank garnered two Broadway World Awards, for Best Solo Performance and Best off-Broadway production and it is well deserved. Alexis’ performance is breathtaking, 90 minutes of solo performance to tell this emotionally-packed and powerful story.

Born and raised in Sydney, Alexis is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). She also holds a Master in International Relations and has received many awards for her performances in musicals and plays.

This play was an emotional rollercoaster, it is extremely well written and interpreted. I ended with tears in my eyes filled with emotions that this story gets to be told because that’s what Anne would have wanted.

“Our blessed radio. It gives us eyes and ears out into the world.” – Anne Frank