Not a sound is heard in the Samuel J. Friedman Theater as the audience watches Juliana Smithton silently eating Chinese food on the floor of a stranger’s house. This heartbreaking scene is one of many found in “The Other Place.”

“The Other Place” opened on Broadway in January after previews in December. The play tells the story of Juliana Smithton, a research scientist promoting a new drug she has been working on. All seems normal with this motivated, boisterous, stubborn woman until she has an episode while giving a speech at a conference.

During this conference, Juliana tells the audience she had fixated on a girl in a yellow bikini sitting amongst the crowd. This fact, while at first humorous, becomes problematic after learning of Juliana’s following medical episode.

She professes from the beginning that the play is an account of her life, and the audience is certainly drawn in and inclined to believe her. However, as the play progresses, everything begins to unravel.

Occurring events become strange and confusing; Juliana is resistant with her doctor, bickering about her last name and divorce even though she’s still married. She insists her daughter Laurel has been calling even though she and her husband haven’t heard from her in 15 years.

It becomes clear to the audience that something is wrong, and it is eventually revealed that Juliana is suffering from dementia. This strong woman tries to fight, but it often turns out the things she’s fighting against aren’t even real. With heavy hearts, the audience is absorbed in her story all the way to its end.

When the play completes, there is not a single member of the audience who is not moved, who doesn’t feel for the terrible disease that destroys a good woman. There are some tears shed; the story is all too real.

As Laurie Metcalf (Juliana Smithton) takes her final bow, the audience claps and stands, a tribute to her outstanding performance. Bill Pullman (Ian Smithton) and Zoe Perry (The Woman) too make solid, emotional performances. Perry manages successfully to juggle three different roles, making the differentiation of them quite distinct for the audience.

However, it is Metcalf who truly shines. Given, she is the focus of the play, but Metcalf’s performance is chilling. It is genuine and honest. She is believable; not for one minute is the audience unconvinced. Metcalf shows the horrific effects dementia can have on a person, and it pains the audience to have to watch her go through it.

Surely, after experiencing the complete silence in the audience as the tragedy unravels, no one could deny Metcalf’s excellence.

“The Other Place” is unlike many other Broadway plays. It isn’t comedy, a musical or a traditional play by any means. It is a story that could happen to anyone’s mother, father, sister or brother.

As Juliana reveals the truth about the girl in the yellow bikini in the final scene, the audience doesn’t only feel for her, they feel for all. “The Other Place” is eye opening; it reminds us all that we are only human.