Karl Broderick, Writer/Composer

The Diary of Anne Frank

"I was 11 when I read 'The Diary of Anne Frank'. I was sick in bed and my cousin Catherine sent it over to me as a present. It made me feel so lucky to be living in such a safe environment. Anne couldn't speak or even flush the loo all day long but the most amazing thing is she doesn't seem to moan – the book could've been one long rant. I especially find Anne's dysfunctional relationship with her mother very interesting. I think of the book regularly, and having been to the actual Annex in Amsterdam, it's very vivid in my mind. Sometimes it feels like it was a friend of mine's story. As I was roughly her age when I first read it, I wanted to be her friend. And funnily enough, I still feel 11 years of age when I read it now. It had such an effect on me that I've toyed with the idea of turning it into a musical. It has everything; a love story, dysfunctional relation- ships, betrayal, Nazis, war and the human strength to overcome adversity in order to survive ... pity it wouldn't have a happy ending. One of the songs I wrote is called 'God, I'm Finding It Hard To Believe In You'.
I believe the book made me grow up sticking up for the underdog. I hate injustice or prejudice in any form."

Karl Broderick has written and co-produced the pantomime 'Peter Pan' which opens in Dublin's Tivoli Theatre on 11 December; www.panto.ie

As told to Katrina Goldstone