Moya O’Connell makes a magnetic turn in “The Sound Inside”

Moya O’Connell has captured audiences for more than a decade with performances at the Shaw Festival and Vancouver’s Bard on the Beach. Known for her ability to bring complex, yearning women to life on stage, O’Connell has received critical acclaim for performances in Hedda Gabler and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and her magnetic turn for Niagara and Toronto audiences in Middletown, a Shaw Festival production directed by Meg Roe and presented by Crow’s Theatre in 2018. She describes Middletown as “one of my favorite shows of my career so far. Such a beautiful play by Will Eno. We all had a pretty magical time with it.” Her portrayal of Cassius in Crow’s Theatre and Groundling Theatre’s co-production of Julius Caesar in early 2020 remains another audience and critical favourite. 

Currently, O’Connell stars in Coal Mine Theatre’s production of Adam Rapp’s Tony Award-winning 2018 play, The Sound Inside, co-starring Aidan Correira and directed by Leora Morris. The plot of the play revolves around Bella Baird, a solitary creative writing professor at Yale University who becomes a mentor to Christopher, a brilliant but mysterious student. Their relationship grows unexpectedly intense, and their personal narratives become intertwined in unpredictable ways. Eventually, Bella makes a request of Christopher that shocks both of them, and they are unsure if he can fulfill it. Rapp’s play, full of tension and intrigue, delves into the boundaries of what one person can demand of another. The Broadway production of this play was nominated for six Tony Awards.

Despite her renown, O’Connell is warm, candid and relatable… as much a pleasure to interview as she is mesmerizing to watch. When director Leora Morris sent O’Connell the play, “it affected me on a visceral level and left me breathless,” O’Connell recalls. “It was mysterious and funny and heartbreaking, but also sort of terrifying. I always trust those first gut reactions to a text. When there is a visceral physical reaction, I know that I can intersect with it.” This production presents two additional opportunities that excite O’Connell. The first is to work with Leora Morris as a director whose intellect and heart O’Connell has always admired immensely. The other is to work with Coal Mine Theatre. “I am a huge fan of what they are pursuing artistically, so it was sort of a perfect combination of artistic and human factors on all fronts.”

In The Sound Inside, O’Connell plays the Yale University writing professor who has not published a book in 17 years, and so has found herself remote in her own life. “Bella Baird is a writer. She is self-deprecating, wry, acerbic, sensitive, extremely funny, and lonely,” O’Connell explains. “I was immediately struck by the depth and breadth of Bella and became obsessed with stepping into her.” Not because she felt an affinity for Bella: “she doesn’t much like other human beings, and I adore most people. I would likely admire her from afar, but be slightly intimidated by her.” But the role of Bella delivered for O’Connell one of the most thrilling things about her career as an actor: the ability to “step into the vessel of another person who is completely different from you”.

The Sound Inside is about loneliness – how, in playwright Adam Rapp’s words, “isolation can lead to darkness”. Most of us have encountered intense isolation during these strange past few years, so O’Connell is confident that the play’s themes will resonate with – and move –  Toronto’s diverse audiences: “This play navigates the encounter between two strangers. How their shared loneliness and love of books creates an unlikely bond. It’s tender.” And as a bonus, one of the “gifts” from performing in the show has been reading all of the novels it references. “My new favorite novel is Light Years by James Salter. It is Bella Baird’s favorite book (and maybe Adam Rapp’s…I wonder) It is absolutely sensational.”

In our conversation, O’Connell expresses a deep appreciation for the theatre, the actors, the playwrights, the designers, and the crew. During the pandemic, she completed her MFA in directing, and recently directed a new production of Hedda Gabler in Vancouver for the United Players. Her passion for theatre – every facet of it – is palpable: “I believe in and love the theatre. The show. The night. The half. The ritual. The spectacle. The agony and ecstasy of being a theatre artist!”

Other non-theatrical forces also exert a powerful sway over her. While she and her husband lead a peripatetic life among Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, their primary home is in Vancouver, BC. “I can’t seem to be apart from the ocean,” she shares. “I long for it when I am separated from it. It has a very intense hold over me; something I can’t explain.” She shares a 14-year old daughter named Ellington, who is “pure joy”, with her “very clever and talented husband Torquil [Campbell] who is also an artist”. (Campbell is part of a legendary Canadian theatre family headed by his father Douglas Campbell, who was a Stratford Festival star, and who introduced his son to O’Connell.) And as an ardent baseball fan, she can often be found at the ballpark when she is not at the theatre. “I love watching baseball. Just crazy for it,” she smiles. “The Blue Jays are my team. What is that famous quote? ‘Baseball breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart’.”

O’Connell’s love of the stage and dedication to her craft have earned her a place among the country’s finest stage actors. Her performances have captivated audiences and critics alike, and her role in the intense The Sounds Inside promises to deliver once again. Toronto audiences have the perfect opportunity to witness her artistry while The Sound Inside continues its runs at Coal Mine Theatre until May 28, 2023. To take it, reserve tickets on coalminetheatre.com.

© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2023