TO open its autumn season Todmorden Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society have chosen the play The Diary of Anne Frank.
It was dramatised by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett and since its first production at the Phoenix Theatre, London, in November 1956, has proved an enduring piece of serious drama.
TAODS planned to produce this play some years ago but, soon af
ter rehearsals began, a professional company in London also decided to perform it and the local licence was withdrawn.
In July 1942 a Jewish family, Mr and Mrs Frank and their two daughters Anne (13) and Margot (18), living in Amsterdam, go into hiding to avoid being taken by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp or being used as slave labour.
They are joined in their hiding place by four others and sustained by supplies brought in secretly.
Anne's diary, recovered later, recording her thoughts on their existence in these cramped conditions, the relationships, and tensions which arise amongst them and her own development, makes for an absorbing story.
The play although written over 50 years ago, has lost none of its freshness and relevance because it is a true story about real people at a time in history which must never be forgotten.
The Diary of Anne Frank runs from September 3 to 6 at the Hippodrome Theatre starting at 7.30 pm.
The full article contains 232 words and appears in Todmorden News newspaper.
