Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – TheaterWorks Hartford’s virtual THE SOUND INSIDE brings subtle new energy and cinematic precision to Adam Rapp’s sinuous play

• By drediman
• May 4, 2021
• No Comments

I recently had the chance to stream TheaterWorks Hartford’s virtual production of The Sound Inside by Adam Rapp. It seems odd to be watching a regional mounting of the play when it’s technically still up for Tony honors “this” season. The play revolves around Bella and Christopher, a withdrawn professor of creative writing at Yale and a college freshman with a defiant sense of himself, respectively. Both are unsettled, solitary souls whose unconventional friendship is the nexus of the slippery 90-minute play.

First and foremost, it’s a pleasure to revisit Mr. Rapp’s stunning two-hander, in my opinion one of the very best plays of the unfortunately truncated 2019-2020 season. Indeed, when I first saw the piece on Broadway in the fall of 2019 (luckily, it was able to complete its entire limited Main Stem run), I was disarmed by its sinuous narrative and Mr. Rapp’s evocative use of language. Coupled with David Cromer’s shadowy but deliberate staging and the penetrating performances of Mary-Louise Parker and Will Hochman, the experience left me disoriented, disturbed, and intoxicated.

In the hands of the capable duo of Maggie Bofill and Ephraim Birney (the son of the Reed Birney, one of our very finest stage actors), the characters of Bella and Christopher register more immediately likable, even “normal” people. What’s lost, however, is the expansive melancholy and mysterious disconnection that Ms. Parker and Mr. Hochman brought to the table. Nevertheless, TheaterWork’s cast is more than solid, infusing subtle new energy and tinges of genuine warmth (that I hadn’t seen before) into the play.

And then of course there’s the matter of how the play registers captured on film versus performed live onstage. Although a part of me misses the chilling, metaphorical image of these two characters seemingly adrift on a large, dimly stage, co-directors Pedro Bermúdez and Rob Ruggiero bring crystal clear, cinematic precision (underscored by Billy Bivona’s haunting score) to the play’s dance-like shifts between dialogue and soliloquy. That the play casts a spell either way it’s presented is a testament to Mr. Rapp’s shrewd way with words and narrative structure.

RECOMMENDED

THE SOUND INSIDE
Theater, Play / On-demand
TheaterWorks Hartford
1 hour, 25 minutes (without an intermission)
Through May 9