A review by livrad
The Sound Inside by Adam Rapp

4.0

In this play, a Yale literature professor and college freshman banter about Dostoevsky, writing, and the current state of technology. From a writing standpoint, there are moments when the dialogue is a little obsessed with itself, pompous with what the voice of academia "should" sound like--all the while blurring lines of appropriate boundaries for a professor and realism for a student. It isn't a true look at an eighteen-year-old boy, but a theatrical view of what that boy *could be* like if written by a committee of slightly pretentious writers. Once you get over that lack of authenticity, you can enjoy the remaining art. The plot is tight, with great, consistent use of breaking the fourth wall. (The professor's relationship with the audience is more primary than that to the student.) The ending is also one that sneaks a punch, and I can only imagine the sense of "whoa" had I seen it on stage, instead of reading it on a page.