Susanna Freymark
Kyogle director John Rado has no fear of being controversial.
“I’ve got powerful beliefs,” he said.
John is directing the play The Diary of Anne Frank showing at the Rochdale Theatre in Lismore for three weekends from July 31.
It is a controversial choice when writers at festivals are being cancelled for speaking about Israel and Palestine.
John is not afraid to go there.
“Over 75% of Jews are appalled at what Israel is doing – it is absolutely comparable to another genocide, ” John said.
“It is so offensive that the president of Israel is doing this.
“They are killing children, it is the most horrendous thing I can think of.”
However, this situation doesn’t take away or diminish from what happened to Anne Frank, he said.
At 13, Anne Frank kept a diary while she hid with her family for two years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
The family was captured in 1944, and Anne Frank died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. Anne’s diaries were retrieved by Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl. Gies gave them to Anne’s father Otto Frank, the family’s only survivor, just after the end of World War II in Europe.
The diary has since been published in more than 70 languages and writers Hacket and Goodrich were commissioned by Otto Frank to turn it into a play.
Both of Johns’ parents lived through World War II.
“My father was a Hungarian Jew and he lost most of his family. The first time he felt that he was a Jew was when they stuck a yellow star on him.”
Directing the play is important for John.
“I want to remind people that in history people have committed horrendous acts of mass murder,” he said.
“People who ignore history are deemed to repeat it.”
It’s a weight that John carries as he explains epigenetic trauma.
“My father said he identified as human. That’s why I’m doing this play.
“My father was a humanist, a philosopher, a doctor and my mentor. There is no trace in history of him, as the internet didn’t exist in his day. His name was Doctor Tibor Rado and I am dedicating this production of The Diary of Anne Frank to him.“
The Lismore Theatre Company is putting on the show and 16 year old Carmen Garcia is playing Anne Frank.
“I’ve never seen anyone as talented as her. She is a raw talent,” John said.
Ruben Garcia is Carmen’s father and he is playing Anne Frank’s father in the play.
The house where the Frank family hid in Amsterdam is a museum and open to visitors. Or you can go and see the play at the Rochdale Theatre.
“Theatre is catharsis,” John said.
“I dare anyone to come to this play and not experience a catharsis.”
The Diary of Anne Frank begins on Friday, July 31 and will run for three weekends until Saturday, August 15.
Tickets: $30 adult / $25 concession /$20 under 25
Go here to book your seat at The Rochdale Theatre, Ballina Road, Lismore.