Characters to This World
Posted by Yasen Peyankov on 3/29/2007
Today the first thing Tina told me in the morning was how she was not ready to allow the Nazis to enter our world. I have had the same feelings as we have been approaching the end of the play. It is very strange to introduce any new characters to this world that we’ve been living in for the past two weeks, let alone these particular ones. We keep reminding ourselves that it is only a play after all, but we are still to have a full day of rehearsals without crying. I’ve never worked on something this emotional before and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten so attached to a character in such a deep and emotional way. I also finished the book that Tina gave me that chronicles pretty much Otto’s whole life and I feel even closer to him. What a complicated man and his dignity and humanity are just overwhelming. We also rehearsed the scene where Mr. Van Daan is getting caught stealing bread and in a way that was actually the big emotional outburst of the day. Fran and Gail were both amazing in creating the dramatic climax of their conflict and looking over at Fran and seeing him on his knees reduced to tears and shame was very hard to bear. So in a way when we got to the scene where the inhabitants of the annex are arrested we’ve already been to the top of the mountain and back. The Nazis (Kirk, Jason and Chris) were also quite freaked out about bursting in on us and Tina had a private chat with them before we staged the scene, so when we got to it eventually everyone was a lot more comfortable and we kind of went through it pretty much by the numbers and made it a bit easy for ourselves, but I know it’s going to be very powerful and emotional and people (even though there is hardly a person who doesn’t know the outcome) will be freaked out. I feel like every day we make another important step forward. I am looking forward to the day when we can run the whole thing, even though at this point the thought of people coming and watching it feels almost intrusive to me.
March 29th, 2007 at 11:47 am
I can picture it’s hard to rehearse the ‘Nazi-scene’ but I think it’s a very essential one. Even though everybody (I assume the story is as well-known in the US as it is over here) nobody already knows the ending, it’s important that it’s there.
I sometimes wonder if the story would have become so well-known worldwide if it had a happy ending. Then it would ‘just’ have been a girl in shelter who held a diary.
I cannot watch the movie or read the book without getting emotional. So I think seeing the play (for the first time in my life I’m gonna see it as a play) ‘in real life’ in June is going to be even harder.
Just curious, will the Miep Gies character be added in the play as well?
Jo
Netherlands
April 3rd, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Yes, Miep is a character in the play, both in the original version and in the updated version by Wendy Kesselman we are performing.