Adam Rapp's The Sound Inside arrives in Adelaide as intelligent, unsettling theatre

Image Credit: Leo Hiraga

Adam Rapp’s The Sound Inside is making its South Australian premiere at Holden Street Theatres, this intelligent, dark and beautifully unsettling two-hander is theatre stripped back to what really matters: exceptional writing, two actors, a room and an audience hanging on every word.

Presented by Holden Street Theatres Inc. and directed by Nick Fagan, The Sound Inside centres on Bella Baird, a successful novelist and university professor whose carefully constructed, solitary existence is interrupted by Christopher Dunn, an intense, fiercely intelligent and somewhat unusual student. They connect through literature, writing and a shared ability to exist slightly outside the expected rhythms of the world. But what begins as an intellectual relationship slowly shifts into something far more complicated.

“Michelle Nightingale and Benji Riggs are magnetic together, turning The Sound Inside into an intimate, intelligent and beautifully unsettling piece of theatre.” Markus Hamence

To say too much about where Rapp takes the story would rob the production of one of its greatest strengths. This is a play that reveals itself slowly. Information arrives almost casually, then suddenly something said twenty minutes earlier carries an entirely different weight. You find yourself constantly reassessing Bella, Christopher and even what you believe you have witnessed.

At the centre of it all is Michelle Nightingale as Bella, and she is superb. Bella could easily become cold or inaccessible, but Nightingale finds the humanity underneath her guarded exterior. There is intelligence, loneliness, dry humour, fear and vulnerability sitting together in a wonderfully measured performance. She understands that this character doesn’t need theatrical fireworks; the smallest shift in her voice or expression can tell us everything. Nightingale has extensive stage, television and film experience, but here the intimacy of The Studio gives her nowhere to hide - and she absolutely owns that space.

Opposite her, Benji Riggs as Christopher brings a fascinating unpredictability to the stage. Christopher arrives like a disruption. He is intellectually confident, socially awkward, passionate, frustrating and difficult to completely read. Riggs doesn’t try to make him conveniently likeable, which makes the performance all the more interesting. There is an energy whenever Christopher enters Bella’s world that immediately changes the temperature of the room.

Palpable.

More importantly, Nightingale and Riggs work beautifully together. Their relationship never settles into something easily defined, and that ambiguity is essential. Teacher and student. Writer and writer. Two lonely people recognising something in one another. Perhaps something else entirely. Rapp continually moves the line, and these two performers trust the writing enough not to provide easy answers.

Nick Fagan’s direction is impressively restrained. Having already directed The Debate and Till The Stars Come Down for Holden Street Theatres in 2026, Fagan approaches this very different work with confidence. He allows silence to do some of the heavy lifting. There is no need to over-dress the drama or tell the audience what to feel. Instead, the production gives Rapp’s words room to breathe and allows the tension to accumulate almost imperceptibly.

And that tension is where The Sound Inside really works its magic.

There are no cheap shocks here. The unease creeps up on you. A conversation changes direction. A seemingly insignificant detail suddenly matters. Something doesn’t quite add up. You start questioning what is real, what has been remembered and what might simply be another story being constructed before us.

Literature sits at the heart of the play, but you certainly don’t need to be buried in Dostoevsky to connect with it. Beneath all the literary references is something incredibly human: loneliness. What happens when someone genuinely sees us? How much of ourselves do we reveal? How much do we invent? And when life becomes unbearable, what might we ask of another human being?

The intimacy of The Studio is exactly right for this material. The production is playing there from 11–29 August 2026, and having Bella and Christopher physically close to the audience intensifies the feeling that we are being allowed into something private. There is nowhere for the performers - or the audience - to retreat.

What I particularly love about The Sound Inside is that it respects its audience. It doesn’t underline every idea with a fluorescent marker. It leaves gaps. It lets you question. It allows different interpretations to coexist. You may very well walk out with someone and discover that the two of you have experienced the final stretch of the play quite differently.

That is exciting theatre.

“Quiet, clever and deliciously uncomfortable, The Sound Inside gets under your skin, plays with your head and follows you long after you leave the theatre.” Markus Hamence

Adam Rapp’s play received six Tony Award nominations, including Best Play, and it isn’t difficult to understand why. The writing feels literary without becoming inaccessible, philosophical without disappearing up its own backside, and emotionally powerful without begging for emotion.

Holden Street Theatres has delivered a production that understands the strength of the material. No unnecessary noise. No theatrical showing off. Just two compelling performers, confident direction and words that gradually tighten around you.

Michelle Nightingale delivers a beautifully controlled and deeply affecting performance, while Benji Riggs matches her with an edgy, unpredictable Christopher. Under Nick Fagan’s assured direction, they make The Sound Inside feel less like something you simply watch and more like something you slowly fall into.

And when it finishes?

You’re not entirely finished with it.

Markus' Verdict: The Sound Inside is quiet theatre with a devastating pulse — intelligent, intimate and beautifully unsettling. Nightingale and Riggs are terrific together, Fagan lets the writing speak for itself, and the result is one of those deliciously uncomfortable nights of theatre that follows you out of the building and keeps whispering in your ear on the way home.

REVIEW EXTRA: I took along my dear performer friend Ewerton Silva. This is his take...

Michelle Nightingale’s monologues were truly impressive. Remembering and delivering so many lines with such consistency and emotion for over an hour is an incredible achievement. Benji Riggs was equally superb. His innocence and the beautiful connection he shared with Michelle on stage made their performances especially memorable. A wonderful performance by both!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Sound Inside
11-29 August 2026
Holden Street Theatres - The Studio
Tickets

Above: Markus Hamence and Ewerton Silva