The Diary of Anne Frank: A Play

Anne Frank and the other seven inhabitants of the Secret Annex spend two and a half years in hiding, confined to a small inside space. The first notable effect of the play’s evocative soundscape is the bells of the nearby Westertoren, a large clock on the highest church spire in the city that chimes every 15 minutes. Anne is delighted at the sound, whereas her mother laments that she’ll never get used to it. For Anne, who is on the cusp of growing up and becoming a woman, the passage of time is something she eagerly awaits. For Mrs. Frank and the other adults, time is something to be lost. The frequent chiming is both a reminder of how slowly time is dragging and an accounting of each quarter-hour increment as it disappears. The Secret Annex is connected to the offices and above the warehouses of Otto Frank’s business, and the first rule is that for 10 hours a day on weekdays, they must be still and silent while the workers are present. That time is tedious, and they must find ways to waste it, breathing a sigh of relief when it ends. The