Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage, Donmar Warehouse, Earlham Street, London WC2 until 09 August 2025, 4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

Photo Credit: Helen Murray.

Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage,  Donmar Warehouse, Earlham Street, London WC2 until  09 August 2025,

4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

“Samira Wiley shines.”

Beautifully played this revival of Lynn Nottage's play, first performed in 2003 has at its heart a superb performance from Samira Wiley as Esther, the black seamstress in turn of the century New York who is saving up her money in her patchwork quilt so she can have a beauty parlour and embarks on a romance by correspondence with a hunk working on the Panama Canal. The plot is really a riff on the standard dear friend one and that George turns out not to have written the letters and to simply be after her money is hardly a surprise but what matters is the world in which Esther lives and how she rises to the shattering of her dreams as George turns up, marries her, takes a mistress, steals her savings and leaves. She gets fine support from Nicola Hughes as the owner of the boarding house for black women she lives in and Claudia Jolly and Faith Omole as the other women in her life, while Alex Waldman creates a deeply sympathetic Jewish seller of fine cloths who provides the materials for the lingerie she makes and is impossibly in love with her. To be honest on a boiling hot July night it did not quite rouse the audience – the applause at the end of the evening was respectful rather than enthusiastic. In other words few stood to show their appreciation which audiences do these days at the drop of a hat. But director Lynette Lynton has done all the right things with a tale which could, in the wrong hands, leave one feeling that a sewing machine can be a girl's best friend. The thing is that Esther, who is 35, cannot write so her letters are written for her as well. This is a society in flux, and black women who went into business could thrive – there were real life Esthers, Part of Nottage's inspiration was a photograph of an unknown couple and stories told by her grandmother about her great grandmother who did marry a man who worked on the canal. Some of it is cliché – tarts have hearts, the society lady is a trophy wife who makes a pass at Esther – but it is still an inspiring evening in spite of the heat.

Cast

Nicola Hughes – Mrs Dickson

Claudia Jolly – Mrs Van Buren

Kadiff Kirwan – George

Faith Omole – Alex Waldmann

Esther – Samira Wiley

Creatives

Director – Lynette Linton

Designer – Alex Berry

Lighting Designer – Jai Morlaria

Sound Designer – George Dennis

Movement & Intimacy Director – Shelley Maxwell

Video Designer – Gino Ricardi Green

Composer & Music Director – Xana