Intimate Apparel
Written by Lynn Nottage
Directed by Anyika McMillan-Herod
Produced by Theatre Three
Audience Rating: PG
Run Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes, one 15 min intermission.
Accessible Seating: Available
Hearing Devices: Not Available
Sensory Friendly Performance: Not Available
Production Sound Level: Comfortable Volume
Noises or Visuals to Prepare For: None of Note
Reviewed by Jenny Wood
Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel is a beautiful script ripe with missed, or - more accurately - blocked, opportunities. Set in 1905 and written in 2003, the plot and structure of the show are inspired by photographs of unidentified residents of late Gilded Age era Lower Manhattan.
Twelve scenes across two acts tell the story of Esther (Kimberly Nicole), an actual spinster - a woman who is so successful as a seamstress as to permit her to sustain herself financially without support from a husband - as she considers her long term life goals. There are inherent themes of race and interracial dynamics, but the heart of the story is Ester’s journey as a single, independent woman, the admirers such a lifestyle can attract, and the choices she faces as each admirer presents an alternative to that independence.
Initially resigned to remaining single and living in Mrs. Dixon’s (Catherine Whiteman) boarding house as she saves enough to open a beauty shop, she is age 35 and very close to achieving this dream when she begins receiving letters from a gentleman acquaintance named George (Corey Pratt) working on the Panama canal.
Mrs. Dixon, played with endearing gravity by Whiteman, is initially skeptical of George’s entreaties. With the assistance of her loyal customer, the rich, white, and involuntarily childless Mrs. Van Buren (Jessica D. Turner), Ester is able to correspond with George despite not knowing how to read or write. Tayla Underwood’s buoyant Mayme is a warm, bold confidant to balance Nicole’s cautiously optimistic Ester who, after considering the advice of all three women ultimately decides to marry George.
A key challenge in Nottage’s script is distinguishing between the George depicted in his letters as he exists in Ester’s mind, and the reality of George when he appears in person. Pratt navigates this challenge well: his initial George is rooted enough to feel real, but also elegant enough that when he arrives for the wedding just before the Act break, we can immediately recognize that this George is not as advertised.
One of my favorite components of this play is the relationship between Ester and Mr. Marks (Thomas Leverton) - an Orthodox Jewish fabric merchant who weaves beautiful stories about each fabric. Initially played as salesmanship, over time it’s apparent that these stories are little gifts from him to Ester. Nicole and Leverton have just the right chemistry to let the moments between them breathe, telling whole chapters of the story in these brief moments without speaking or touching. And if you pay close attention to the first story of the Imperial silk, and how it travels with Ester on her journey, her destination will hit just a little harder in some specific feels.
Intimate Apparel continues through April 20, TheatreThree.org for info and tickets.
Cheers!
Jenny
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