Adam Rapp’s emotive play The Sound Inside was nominated for a Tony award in 2018, and it’s good to see it being performed at the Traverse (various times).
Set in the Ivy League college Yale, it’s a powerful two-hander that follows the relationship between a college professor in the department of writing and a young student with a desire to write his own novel.
Bella, strongly yet sensitively is played by Madeleine Potter, has never married, lives in faculty housing and both her parents are dead. She is suffering from cancer that has riddled her stomach with a constellation of tumours. She is scared of dying, having had to endure the horrible death of her mother through cancer.
Erik Sirakian embraces the character of Christopher, the young student with all the tensions of college life. He is a strange, odd scholar and Bella is intrigued with him. A relationship develops between them. At first, it’s purely on an academic level, but as they get to know one another better, it develops into a more personal and sexual bond.
But Bella has a life-changing favour to ask from Erik. It’s enormous and will affect their lives forever. But will Erik agree to her request to help her commit suicide and end her pain?
Both actors give sterling, measured performances and there is a certain captivating chemistry between them.
Elliot Griggs’s stark lighting helps to create the tense atmosphere, and it is impressively directed by Matt Wilkinson, leaving you with much to think about.