Intimate Apparel review – Lynn Nottage’s exquisitely stitched tale of a seamstress’s dreams

Donmar Warehouse, LondonSamira Wiley is superb as a corset-maker who embroiders dreams for herself and others in Lynette Linton’s tremendous productionLynn Nottage’s 2003 play explores what you hold close and who you are when your defences are down. In 1905 New York, Esther, a skilled Black corset-maker, creates ravishing undergarments in Wedgwood blue or salmon pink, trimmed with “every manner of accoutrement”. Stitching romance for others, she fears she will never know her own – until George begins writing from Panama, where he is labouring on the canal.Tucked into her modest, mouse-grey dress, Samira Wiley’s Esther embroiders dreams with every letter. Despite forebodings from her landlady (Nicola Hughes, plush and beady), she insists: “I am his sweetheart twice a month and I can fill that envelope with anything I want.” Kadiff Kirwan’s melodious, greedy-eyed George arrives in New York and the first act ends on the edge of hope. Later, disappointment settles: intimacies fray, promises prove moth-eaten. Continue reading...

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