An holy date

Renee, the central character, has a lot on her plate: her parental and work responsibilities, her pursuit of sex and love, her spiritual and religious quest and the call of her own creativity. The play charts her descent into madness as she is torn apart by the conflicts of these various obligations and desires. “The play attracted me by its interweaving of the comic and serious,” says director Paul Hawkins. “You can’t tell where the laughter stops and the pain begins. It’s true-to-life in that the works of the characters in all their anxiety, stress, pain and absurdity are at the same time comic, tragic, poignant—indeed, universal.” The director also mentioned that Louise Arsenault was able to capture the tragicomedy of life in the web of her play.

“Debra plays Sylvie, the sister of the main character Renee. It's a wonderful, multi-layered role that Debra is doing a terrific job with,” said Janis Kirshner. “I play the Buddhist upstairs neighbour, Ocean. She's also an actor and shows up in most scenes dressed as different characters that she's on her way to audition for. She is very sympathetic towards her friend Renee's various problems and takes the time to listen to her friend and offer support.”

While focused on Renee’s journey, the three supporting characters have strong storylines themselves: her fifteen-year old daughter Elle, passionate about singing, always feeling second-best to her older brother Remy and having to parent her parent; Renee’s sister Sylvie, a wealthy resident of Upper Westmount, childless, trying to help but unable to keep from judging Renee and at the same time drawn towards Elle and into competition with Renee for Elle’s love; Renee’s friend and upstairs neighbour Ocean, struggling actor and serene Buddhist—whose loyalty to Renee may suffer when Renee’s gorgeous therapist becomes a member of Ocean’s chanting group. All four characters are sympathetic as they pursue their own desires—though inevitably are brought into conflict with the others. They are all a mixture of self-centred and generous; they are all sympathetic but flawed.

Experienced actors Marcel Jeannin and James Downing are cast members in this impassioned drama based on the legendary journals of a Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam during World War II. When asked what he would like the audience to take away from the play, James Downing answered: “I want what every artist wants... for the audience to walk away forgetting where they live.”

The Diary of Anne Frank ends this Sunday with two shows, one at 2 p.m. and the other at 7.pm.

(Photo: Courtesy)

(Photo: Courtesy)