The Diary of Anne Frank, Visalia Players

I was disposed to enjoy this production knowing that the new adaptation by Wendy Kessleman was quite good. The Visalia Players certainly put some effort into improving production values on this one, which is wonderful to see. Keith Lindersmith has renewed his talent with set design using the small-ish Ice House Stage space extremely effectively and art directing it well with a fully lived-in look. Costumes by Irene Morse and Nancy McGinnis were also nicely done.

While the actor movement and staging was effectively directed, the performances were largely wooden and lacked a cohesive sense of interpretation among the acting ensemble. Much of the narrative from fifteen year old Mandi Moore lacked variety and appropriate stops and transitions, something a director has to take into hand early. Ms. Moore, however, did have a confident and energetic presence on stage which will serve her well with more training and experience.

Of the ensemble players, Alison Clark Terry is a standout as Miep with an open expression and empathetic delivery. The majority of the other players had a few good individual moments, they were punctuated by long periods of stiff deliveries. It’s as though their words and sentiments were never able to land on their acting partners. . . most everyone seemed startlingly disconnected from everyone else on stage. Everyone knew what they were supposed to be doing on the stage at any given moment, but never seemed to know how that was supposed to work with their fellow actors.

Overall, I got the impression that director Nancy Holly knew how she wanted the play to look, but not how to pace or craft it into a fully cohesive statement. The most awkward piece of staging, unfortunately, happened at the climax of the play. As the Nazis inevitably arrest the Frank and Van Daan families, the actors portraying the Nazis are agonizingly slow and the reactions of the families strangely muted and polite. It never reached the level of sheer terror that would have been contained within that moment– thereby reaching out the audience to share in that horrific experience.

That said, however, I have to give an extremely positive review to Lindersmith’s portrayal of Otto Frank. Full of dignity and sentiment, it is a truly touching performance and probably the principle reason to see this show.

As it is, the show looks great but is uneven in the quality of performances.

They have, however, announced their next season and it looks to be a promising opportunity to level out the overall quality of their presentations.