The Diary of Anne Frank by a city theatre group

The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a city-based theatre group isn’t a conventional one. They juggle their work and theatre and do a pretty good job. This time too, they didn’t fail to impress with The Diary of Anne Frank. The venue, Lamakaan, was full and guests had to run around to get more chairs.

Riyaz, the director of the play, who also played Otto Frank, Anne’s father says, “We wanted to do something a little serious from our last play. We had an option between Anne Frank and the life of Helen Keller and we chose Anne.”

Out of the entire cast, the two who stood out were Anne Frank, played by 13-year-old Namita Ramesh and Peter, played by 10-year-old Piyush Ram. Both of whom made their debut. Namita, says, playing Anne wasn’t easy. “Anne was a bubbly child and I’m the opposite. So, it was a challenge,” she says.

The background score and the excerpts that were read from Anne’s diary in the form of a recording, show the intense research that was done. “It was difficult to showcase these particular years of Anne Frank. So, in between scenes, we played tapes where Anne reads from her diary,” shares Riyaz. The background score was composed by Alok Kesarwani.