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The Diary of Anne Frank
25-28 March 2015
at the Carriageworks Theatre, Leeds


About our production
Performers:
Anne Frank - Maddy Miller. 
Peter Van Daan - Ben Patrick.
Margot Frank - Jorge-Ann Cooper.
Miep Gies - Kimberley Otter. 
Otto Frank - Christopher Bamforth.
Edith Frank - Miranda Foxton.
Mr Kraler - Michael Lockwood
Mr Van Daan - Anthony Irwin
Mrs Van Daan - Pam Wilson 
Albert Dussell - Tony Hutchinson
1st Man - Alan Butterly
2nd Man - James Hart
​Backstage:
Directors - Manda Lister & Michael Lockwood
Producer - Ian Goodison
Stage Manager - Dan Dainter
Lighting - Peter Waddicor, Michael Lockwood
Sound - Dan Dainter
Costume - Mavis Heaton
Hair/Makeup - Manda Lister, Michelle Petrow
Props - Jane Curtin
Crew - Members & friends
Registered Chaperones - Karen Carry, Linda McHale, Clare Duggan, Julie Viligiardi 
Front of House Manager - Barry Unwin

Rehearsal photographs

Producer Mark O'Brien from Made In Leeds TV visited one of our rehearsals to record a segment for his series "The Book-It List" which was transmitted the week we were in theatre. 

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The collection for The Anne Frank Trust UK during the performances raised £203.45 for the charity - thank you all for your generosity.   The Anne Frank Trust UK draws on the power of Anne Frank's life and diary to challenge prejudice and reduce hatred, encouraging people to embrace positive attitudes, responsibility and respect for others. 

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Our supporting exhibition, on display in the Millennium Room, kindly on loan to us from The Anne Frank Trust UK

About this adaptation, by Wendy Kesselman
In this transcendently powerful new adaptation by Wendy Kesselman, Anne Frank emerges from history a living, lyrical, intensely gifted young girl, who confronts her rapidly changing life and the increasing horror of her time with astonishing honesty, wit, and determination. An impassioned drama about the lives of eight people hiding from the Nazis in a concealed storage attic, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK captures the claustrophobic realities of their daily existence—their fear, their hope, their laughter, their grief. Each day of these two dark years, Anne's voice shines through: "When I write I shake off all my cares. But I want to achieve more than that. I want to be useful and bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death!" This is a new adaptation for a new generation.

"In this gripping new adaptation by Wendy Kesselman, from the original stage play by Goodrich and Hackett, newly discovered writings from the diary of Anne Frank, as well as survivor accounts, are interwoven to create a contemporary impassioned story of the lives of people persecuted under Nazi rule. This is an adaptation for a new generation able to confront the true horrors of the Holocaust. "Undeniably moving. It shatters the heart. The evening never lets us forget the inhuman darkness waiting to claim its incandescently human heroine." —NY Times. 

"An extraordinary theatrical adventure! Go and remember." —NY Post. 

"…new DIARY is chillingly honest about the Holocaust. Wendy Kesselman's work has restored the terror." —NY Daily News. 

"Wendy Kesselman's finely textured new DIARY tells a deeper story. A sensitive, stirring and thoroughly engaging new adaptation." —NY Newsday. "A powerful new version that moves the audience to gasp, then tears." —Associated Press. 
​

Additional resources about Anne Frank which may be of interest to you. 

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Celebrating 90 years of Leeds Children's Theatre (1935-2025)
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"The aim of Leeds Children's Theatre is to produce plays suitable for children,
​the players to be either children or adults or both, as is necessary for the production"
. 
This was drawn into the constitution in April 1937
​and it remains the aim of Leeds Children's Theatre today 
​


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