BOLD REIMAGINING: Anne Being Frank at the Sydney Opera House

After earning critical acclaim and awards in New York, Ron Elisha's provocative new play Anne Being Frank will make its Australian premiere at the Sydney Opera House this September. The production asks a haunting question: what if Anne Frank had survived to see her diary published, and what would she have demanded the world know about her complete story?

This isn't the Anne Frank audiences think they know. Elisha's bold reimagining presents a darker, more complex figure shaped by experiences beyond the secret annex: a survivor whose worldview has been fundamentally altered by witnessing the full horror of the Holocaust. The play shuttles between three distinct worlds: the familiar confines of the Amsterdam hiding place, the brutal reality of Bergen Belsen concentration camp, and an imagined 1950s New York publishing house where Anne confronts her editor about how her story should be told.

The production's success in New York speaks to its powerful impact. Winner of Broadway World Awards for Best Off-Broadway Solo Performance and Best Off-Broadway Production of a Play in 2023, Anne Being Frank earned standing ovations from audiences and critics alike. Reviews consistently praised both the writing's unflinching honesty and the extraordinary performance at its centre.

That performance comes from Sydney's own Alexis Fishman, making this homecoming particularly meaningful. WAAPA-trained and Helpmann-nominated for her role as Young Dusty in Dusty, Fishman has built an impressive career spanning Australia and New York. Her work as a Holocaust educator and board member of 3GNY (Third Generation New York) brings additional depth to this role, combining professional expertise with personal connection to the material.

Fishman's solo performance is a masterclass in theatrical transformation, embodying five distinct characters across four different accents. Critics have consistently highlighted her ability to shift seamlessly between Anne at different stages of her life, her editor, and other figures in this complex narrative. As one New York reviewer noted, she "flawlessly portrays Anne and several other characters with depth and precision."

The play's central tension revolves around editorial control and historical truth. Anne, having survived to adulthood, fights with her editor over how her diary should be presented to the world. While the editor wants to preserve the hope and innocence that made the original diary so powerful, this older Anne insists on including the darker truths of her experience. The conflict becomes a meditation on how we choose to remember history and whose voices we prioritise in telling difficult stories.

Elisha, an established Australian playwright, has crafted something that transcends typical biographical drama. Rather than simply retelling a familiar story, Anne Being Frank interrogates our relationship with Anne Frank's legacy and challenges audiences to consider what we've chosen to remember and what we've allowed ourselves to forget.

The production arrives at a time when conversations about Holocaust remembrance and historical accuracy carry particular urgency. By presenting Anne as a survivor rather than a victim, the play forces audiences to confront uncomfortable questions about how we process trauma and whose versions of history we accept.

The Sydney Opera House's Playhouse provides an appropriately intimate setting for this intense solo work. The venue's capacity for creating close connections between performer and audience is crucial for a play that demands emotional engagement with difficult material.

The production carries significant content warnings, including themes of antisemitism, violence, and concentration camps. These warnings underscore the play's unflinching approach to its subject matter. This is not a sanitised version of history but a raw confrontation with trauma and survival.

Anne Being Frank offers both the return of a celebrated local performer and the opportunity to engage with a bold new work that challenges conventional approaches to Holocaust remembrance. The show runs September 13-21 at the Sydney Opera House Playhouse, with tickets from $39. 

Bookings and more details: https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/theatre/anne-being-frank