The Sound Inside at Traverse Theatre – Edinburgh Fringe review

Adam Rapp’s The Sound Inside was a sturdy Broadway hit when it first came to New York in 2019, bagging a wad of Tony Awards nominations in the process. It now makes its UK premiere as part of the Traverse Theatre’s Edinburgh season, often a go-to spot for the best new writing in town.

Like a noire-esque vision of a Donna Tartt novel, Rapp’s two-hander follows a cancer-battling Yale literature professor, Bella (Madeleine Potter), who forms an unconventional and frequently unorthodox connection with one of her aspiring writer students, Christopher (Eric Sirakian). As they orbit each other, prowling in the half glow of Elliot Griggs’s lighting design on James Turner’s blank stage, various emotional wounds rise to the fore, creative juices flow and deeper, more existential questions bubble to the surface.

You can see why Rapp’s play captivated New York audiences (the guy is currently having a wad of success following his work on Outsiders): he’s penned a tight, coiling text that weaves its tendrils around literary nods and lofty thematic questions – there’s a lot of Dostoyevsky, for example. It’s probably a compliment to say that, even though it could well be a radio play, it never feels static or dull, helped by solid performances from Potter and Sirakian.

He also writes language magnificently: Bella remembers how, when her mum died, she “dissolved into nothingness like snow in surprisingly warm autumn rain.” A moment of intimacy is “as brief as a swallow”, while, in an emotional rush, Christopher’s words came out “like water through his nose”

Matt Wilkinson’s production never overplays its hand – Bella and Christopher’s relationship is deliberately ambiguous, at times academic, almost amorous and other times caustic. Two scenes, where the duo explain one another’s work, is particularly transfixing. Dunn himself remains an enigma – some volatile force as unpredictable as the cancer Bella confronts.

Death, mortality and generational conflict are emerging as recurrent themes at this year’s fringe – all are here and masterfully displayed against the backdrop of an unforgiving New England winter. Well worth a watch as part of a mightily successful Traverse season.