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If a good play should tackle big ideas, then “Compulsion” ought to be a great play.

Personal ambition, the Holocaust, mental illness: all collide in the world premiere production of Rinne Groff’s gripping drama, now playing at Berkeley Rep.

Based on the true story of Meyer Levin and his battle to bring Anne Frank’s diary to the stage, “Compulsion” has plenty going for it. The production is spare, yet handsome. The three actors, led by the brilliant Mandy Patinkin, are all Tony-worthy.

And there are puppets.

Those marionettes, which portray Anne Frank and her father, Otto Frank, lend a fanciful element to a story that, at its core, is about flesh-and-blood pain.

Mandy Patinkin performs with a marionette version of Anne Frank in “Compulsion” at Berkeley Rep. photo/kevin berne images

Patinkin plays writer Sid Silver, a character who, like the real-life Levin, witnessed the liberation of Nazi death camps. Like Levin, Silver predicts a Jewish “teller” of this woeful tale shall arise. Once he reads the diary, he is convinced Anne Frank is that teller.

With Otto Frank’s blessing, Silver meets with Broadway producers and lawyers to realize his theatrical vision. But gradually, due to his obstinate ways, Silver finds himself squeezed out of any production.

When Hollywood hacks universalize Anne, Silver accuses them of “de-Judaizing” her story. Once that stage version of the diary becomes a hit, Silver slips from ardent advocate to demoralized nutjob.

Act Two, set in Israel, where the Silver family has moved, highlights Silver’s lurid collapse.

He manages to stage his play in Israel, only to have the lawyers shut it down. Silver is left isolated and friendless. But nothing stops Anne from further infecting Silver’s mind.

Under director Oskar Eustis, co-stars Hannah Cabell and Matte Osian are superb, lending their  multiple characters — from Silver’s longsuffering wife to doltish book agents — the proper pathos or villainy.

Patinkin simply electrifies. His Sid Silver is a coiled cobra ready to spit –– literally –– at anyone who thwarts him. That includes Otto Frank, to whom Silver (like Levin) writes accusatory letters. Yet Patinkin still ennobles Silver’s fruitless quest with a kind of mad integrity.

It doesn’t hurt that “Compulsion” includes excerpts from both the real Broadway version of the Anne Frank play and Levin’s, both performed by marionettes.

It turns out Silver/Levin was right all along. His play is better, more moving, at least as depicted in “Compulsion.”

Not everything works in this still-evolving play. A moonlit scene, in which Anne shares a bed with the Silvers and speaks with Silver’s wife, goes on way too long.

The play’s major problem has to do with the nature of compulsion. Silver could be forgiven his excesses were they really about staying true to an artistic vision or to a fierce dedication to honoring Holocaust dead.

But that’s not the root of Silver’s compulsion. Rather, it’s his brain chemistry. Silver tearfully admits that he is sick, no different from any OCD patient who constantly washes his hands or counts the cracks in the sidewalk.

Thus the play’s big ideas about Holocaust, anti-Semitism and the intersection of art and commerce ultimately mean less than Silver or the playwright intended.

Silver never lets go of Anne, even on his deathbed. As she hovers over Silver (by then reduced to puppet status) she utters her famous words, “Despite everything, I believe people are really good at heart,” now ringing hollow.

A new work like this invariably undergoes tweaks before reaching Broadway, where “Compulsion” seems destined to end up. The play surely will have its makeover. But despite any untidiness, this is must-see theater with a must-see lead performance as its marquee draw.

In one scene, the puppet Anne Frank laments, “Everybody likes me better dead.” In “Compulsion,” despite the fictionalized battle royale over her memory, she lives.

“Compulsion” by Rinne Groff runs now through Oct. 31 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. Tickets: $14.50-$73. Information: (510) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org.