Beijing Ann Frank Reviewed
From the mailing list of Beijing’s only Jewish synagogue, Kehillat Beijing
In this month’s issue of That’s Beijing there is an interesting article about a Bejing interpretation and staging of The Diary of Anne Frank. It is playing 1-16 November in a local theatre.We are considering a community trip, tentatively for Wednesday, Nov. 12th. If you are interested in reserving a ticket and joining with members of the community to see it together, please send an email with your contact details to ….
About a Girl
Ji Pei finds inspiration in The Diary of Anne FrankGerald Mak Ji Pei stumbled upon a Chinese translation of the play based on The Diary of Anne Frank while she rifled through the library of the Central Academy of Drama. “I was moved by Anne’s positive attitude in the face of a horrible event,” says Ji, a second year graduate student at the Academy. “It was very appropriate because I found the script during the SARS period.”
Though it may be preposterous to compare SARS to the Holocaust, Ji feels that Chinese people can still relate to the message conveyed in the story. “Chinese people associate the Holocaust with war and with both the fragility and the strength of life,” Ji explains. In China, the Holocaust hasn’t been characterised as the single most horrific atrocity in history the way it has been in the West. China certainly has had many atrocities befall her people during her history, and of course, WWII has different associations here. “We did a lot of research, but there may be some things that we can´t understand about the Jews,” Ji admits. “Our actors are young and it was difficult for us to understand the characters.”
Though Anne Frank’s story has a long history rooted in the plight of the Jews in Europe, it would be short sighted to miss the universality of her story of hope over adversity and the senselessness of a vibrant life cut short. In the past, people have downplayed the Jewishness of Frank’s writing when adapting it to a play. For example, Lillian Hellman, who produced the Pulitzer Prize winning version of the play, changed Anne’s words, “Perhaps through Jewish suffering the world will learn good,” to “Jews were not the only ones who suffered from the Nazis.” These were attempts to make the story more palatable to a public not ready to accept or comprehend the Jewish experience but the changes offended many who rightfully believed that the Jews suffered more than anyone else at the hands of the Nazis.
So, how does this lack of understanding of Jewish culture and history affect this new production? China is certainly no stranger to atrocities and, of course, during WWII, China suffered brutally herself at the hands of the occupying Japanese forces. Perhaps, then, a lack of understanding of Jews may not be as limiting as it was in the US in the 1950s. Hopefully, the Chinese audience won’t leave the theatre distracted by their lack of understanding of Jewish culture, but will instead realise that no nation and no culture is unfamiliar with suffering and senseless brutality. Nor is any human being unfamiliar with the insecurities, aspirations and hopes of youth. The tragedy of those very things being extinguished should translate in any language.
The Diary of Anne Frank will run Nov 1-16 at the Beijing North Theatre (6404 8021, 6406 0175)
What does it matter now??? Hitler is DEAD !!!And so is Anne Frank!
oh my gosh you guys are friggin fighting over this dumb shit ya’ll need to shut the fuc up a stop trying to b cool cause u aint hitler was a very bad man and some of you need to read the book ann frank she didnt do shit and look wut he did all ya’ll r so friggin stupid . and pimp 21 if you think priscilla is gay b/c she believes in god i can’t fucin wait till you die bitch u’ll b burning in hell then u can b wit ur little dumb fuc hitler we’ll c how much he likes you then huh!
Hitler was the worst fucker to ever walk the planet. Did u know that the people that were attracted to him were all drunk in a bar, or a bunch of complete losers and nerds. People who didn’t hate themselves and didn’t jack off every 5 seconds were not Hitler supporters. So to all the people who think Hitler was a cool, guy, FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!! IF YOU WANT TO BE LIKE HITLER, BECOME THE BIGGEST LOSER IN YOUR STATE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Y du u people hate jews so much? What did they do to you?
U ALL SUCK MAJOR BALLS! JEWS BLOW! AND SO DO UR MOMS!! I WOULD KNOW! CAUSXE I HAVE EM ALL IN LINE SUCKING MY COCK! DICK HEADS!!!
what did those “great people” the jews did?
Al tell u wat they did.
They killed 1000s of Russian Christains, Arabs, finaced the salve trade and lie non stop. They make fun of Chrisianity and are crazy with money.They lied about Hilter and made there owen dam nation and made it look as if it was Americas falt for all the crap jews do.
O ya, they have huge noses.
ur all so stupid this all happened a long friggin time ago, so suck it up assholes
you are one fucked up asshole! wish you lived next door to me butt head!
Yall some fuckin assholes why do u have to be so racist who ever said they hate blacks come to chicago and say that shit and these blacks will whoop yo white ass stupid ass bith and it aint nothin wrong with jews im cool with whites but yo dumb ass jus made me wanna hate them
thats right i am black mofo and come to mia 305 and say that shit u will get fuck up and jews straight white people staight to but i will be fucking crackers if i see another cacker say some shit like that again
sharpshotter
god shut the fuck up you friggin dumbasses, whats the big deal with jewish people?? WHO EVEN CARES?! Hitler was a gay fag who obviously was wound a little to tight, so quit being gay you idiots. You have no idea how many people you are hurting by saying stuff about jewish people. Im not jewish. But it doesnt matter, there is no difference, just a matter of what you believe in, and seriously, I believe that you need to get over yourselves. Jewish people are jewish people, gay people are gay people, blacks are blacks, whites are whites. Theres no changing them. And maybe you should realize that and grow up before you find yourself the next victim. GR0W UP
why is every 1 swearing??? u r tryin 2 be hard with all ur swearin but its just not workin it really shows u up for the silly imature people u are yes we all have our opinions but u put ur self in their shoes HOW WOULD U LIKE IT ? nd u will probs say i dnt care nd all dat but at the end of the dat Hitler was an evil man and if u believe that it did the world good then u are evil too!!!
I feel so bad for the jewish people! hitler is a retarded piece of crap and im glad he killed him self!!read the diary of ann frank its great!
It’s tragic. People who forget history are condemed to repeat it…I used to think that was a strange saying, however some of these postings prove the youth of today’s world has already forgotten…and sadly only the fourth generation from this tradgity shows it has learned nothing.If you do not arm yourselves with knowledge it very well could be your generation that repeats it…hummm…wonder what group will have the targets on their backs…maybe just being a man will be enough reason to kill men…maybe having dimples when you smile will cause your death…maybe having black hair will have you stripped naked then lead into a shower room where instead of water waiting you will be killed with posionous gas…maybe having brown eyes will mean you will be burnt alive…Maybe crooked teeth will mean you will starve todeath…All because a group of people decide you are not worthy of the life you were given. it will obviously be something you could not hide about yourself…I wonder how long it will be…how many of you posting pro-hitler comments will wet yourselves when the target falls on you for no reason…how brave will you be then? Who will protect you…Those who rise to your aide may be the very people you write so ill about now…I wonder how you would feel about them then…See I think they have already survived it once, I’m pretty sure they would not abandon someone to suffer the same fate… I am truly amazed at your postings. What a world legacy you seem to be living.
if you would like an education from a survivor who died in 2002 go here http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/
i hate you if you hate jews fuck you
yall are some dumb people
what the fuck is worng with yall dumd asses, shittttttttttt!
heyy fellas who ever hate jew yall some races ppl
guess what i love my boo!
this sum dumb shit
yall some piece of shittt she tried to do everything she could to save herself! okay kk
heyyy yall wazzzzz good ppls, this shit is funny yal yellin at each other yall crazyy but yea il hit this thing up lata see ya
yo what up with that you so stuped and I hate you all so shut the fuck up
Funny, all anti-semites have such a low level of self esteem. I wonder if any of them would be willing to meet up with me and have their ass kicked in a mind altering way? All commers welcome. Or you can just sit and post and wack your self off, as you were.