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<\/p>\n
“I asked him, ‘Father, am I a Jew?’ He was horrified and replied, ‘No, no, no, no, absolutely no. First you are human!<\/p>\n
“That conversation left an indelible mark on me.”<\/p>\n
“I’m 180 centimetres tall.<\/p>\n
“I weigh 95 kilograms.”<\/p>\n
“My father was 184 centimetres tall, four centimetres taller, and when he came out of hiding he weighed 42 kilograms.<\/p>\n
“He was nearly dead.”<\/p>\n
He said the experience reinforced why he believes Anne Frank’s story remains essential, particularly as each new generation grows further removed from the Holocaust.<\/p>\n
“The children that are coming to see this, if you come to see this, you won’t have had any physical contact probably with a Holocaust survivor,” he said.<\/p>\n
“If we do not remind people that this is real and it happened, they will repeat it.”<\/p>\n
Rado said casting Carmen Garcia as Anne Frank alongside her real-life parents, Ruben and Marlaina Garcia, as Otto and Edith Frank had helped ground the production in emotional authenticity.<\/p>\n
“So casting is vital because the people that are playing these roles have to be believable,” he said.<\/p>\n
“You know very well you’re in Lismore at the Rochdale Theatre on Ballina Road, but you’re willing to believe for an hour that you’re in Amsterdam in the annex and you’re seeing a family who are hiding.”<\/p>\n
Rado believes the production’s themes resonate strongly in today’s political climate and expects it could provoke a strong public reaction.<\/p>\n
“I fully expect the giant poster outside the theatre to be vandalised with graffiti,” he said.<\/p>\n
“In fact, I’m half thinking of doing it in the middle of the night myself and writing ‘Free Palestine’ on it.<\/p>\n
“Not because I want publicity, really, but because I firmly believe that’s an issue we can’t ignore whilst we’re doing this play.<\/p>\n
“However, we have to do this play as well.”<\/p>\n
While condemning the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Rado said acknowledging contemporary conflicts did not diminish the significance of Anne Frank’s story.<\/p>\n
“What’s happening in Palestine is inhuman and unbelievable, and we are allowing it to happen just like people did then,” he said.<\/p>\n
“However, that doesn’t take away from the tragedy of Anne Frank.”<\/p>\n
For Rado, the play serves as a warning against nationalism, bigotry and intolerance \u2013 ideologies he believes continue to threaten societies today.<\/p>\n
He said he sees parallels between the persecution of Jewish people that culminated in the Holocaust and the contemporary plight of Palestinians, while stressing the two are also distinct.<\/p>\n
“They’re exactly the same and completely separate,” he said.<\/p>\n
“They’re exactly the same because the road that leads to Auschwitz comes from nationalism, comes from national pride, comes from bigotry, comes from ignorance and no education, xenophobia.<\/p>\n
“That’s where the road to Auschwitz begins.”<\/p>\n
Lismore Theatre Company’s production of Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett’s The Diary of Anne Frank runs from 31 July to 15 August at Rochdale Theatre.<\/p>\n
Tickets are available through TryBooking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DIRECTOR John Rado believes audiences need The Diary of Anne Frank as a reminder of where hatred and intolerance can lead. With the classic play opening at Rochdale Theatre later this month, the production is deeply personal for Rado, who is dedicating it to his father, Dr Tibor Rado, a Holocaust survivor. Born in Hungary, […]<\/p>\n