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Intimate Apparel & Fabulation
“Lynn Nottage’s work explores depths of humanness, the overlapping complexities of race, gender, culture and history—and the startling simplicity of desire—with a clear tenderness, with humor, with compassion.” —Paula Vogel, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrightIntimate Apparel: “Thoughtful, affecting new play . . . with seamless elegance.”—Charles Isherwood, VarietyFabulation: “Robustly entertaining comedy . . . with punchy social insights and the firecracker snap of unexpected humor.”—Ben Brantley, The New York TimesWith her two latest plays, “exceptionally gifted playwright” (New York Observer) Lynn Nottage has created companion pieces that span 100 years in the lives of African American women. Intimate Apparel is about the empowerment of Esther, a proud and shy seamstress in 1905 New York who creates exquisite lingerie for both Fifth Avenue boudoirs and Tenderloin bordellos. In Fabulation Nottage re-imagines Esther as Undine, the PR-diva of today, who spirals down from her swanky Manhattan office to her roots back in Brooklyn. Through opposite journeys, Esther and Undine achieve the same satisfying end, one of self-discovery.Lynn Nottage’s plays include Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Mud, River, Stone; Por’ Knockers; Las Menias; Fabulation and Intimate Apparel, for which she was awarded the Francesca Primus Prize and the American Theatre Critics/Steinberg New Play Award in 2004. Her plays have been produced at theatres throughout the country, with Intimate Apparel slated for 16 productions during the 2005–2006 season.
140 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2006
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279 people want to read
About the author
Lynn Nottage
32 books212 followersLynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often deals with the lives of marginalized people. She is a professor of Playwriting at Columbia University. She was the first woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice; the first in 2009 for Ruined, and the second in 2017 for Sweat.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
November 8, 2018
I was already excited that Lynn Nottage's Sweat (a play about people in a hard hit deindustrialized town) was on the list for the Pittsburgh Public Theater's season when I came across these two earlier plays by her. Although Intimate Apparel won all kinds of awards in the early 2000s and featured Viola Davis, I had never heard of it, so it was my first journey into Nottage's work.
It was a rewarding trip. Both plays, in very different ways, deal with race and class, and are full of nuance. Intimate Apparel is more somber and thoughtful. Fabulation is more madcap and manic.
In Intimate Apparel, Esther is a seamstress living in a New York boarding house in the early 1900s when a man working on the Panama Canal asks if he can write to her. She had decided at this point that she would never have a husband, despite the constant efforts of her landlady, and her dream is to save money from her job of making beautiful corsets and camisoles and start a ladies' dress shop.
Then George, the canal worker, arrives in her life, and everything changes. The second act tells a familiar tale -- how our lives and dreams don't work out as we expect them to, and threading beneath it is Esther's quiet affection for the Jewish man from whom she buys her fabrics. I'll let you see how it turns out.
In Fabulation, Undine (not her real name) is living the high life in Manhattan as head of her own p.r. firm, arranging fundraising events that feature any celebrities she can get her hands on. Then, on one awful day, her carefully built world comes crashing down, and suddenly she is Sharona again, moving back in with her mother, father, brother and grandmother in the projects, trying to reconstruct a life that is blown apart.
While Fabulation is nowhere near as poignant as Intimate Apparel, it has its own frantic charms and even slows its pace slightly in the final scenes as Undine tries to grapple with her new poverty, a man who is interested in her and her family's willingness to accept her even though she turned her back on them.
Literate, deft in dialogue, meaningful -- what more could you want in a play?
It was a rewarding trip. Both plays, in very different ways, deal with race and class, and are full of nuance. Intimate Apparel is more somber and thoughtful. Fabulation is more madcap and manic.
In Intimate Apparel, Esther is a seamstress living in a New York boarding house in the early 1900s when a man working on the Panama Canal asks if he can write to her. She had decided at this point that she would never have a husband, despite the constant efforts of her landlady, and her dream is to save money from her job of making beautiful corsets and camisoles and start a ladies' dress shop.
Then George, the canal worker, arrives in her life, and everything changes. The second act tells a familiar tale -- how our lives and dreams don't work out as we expect them to, and threading beneath it is Esther's quiet affection for the Jewish man from whom she buys her fabrics. I'll let you see how it turns out.
In Fabulation, Undine (not her real name) is living the high life in Manhattan as head of her own p.r. firm, arranging fundraising events that feature any celebrities she can get her hands on. Then, on one awful day, her carefully built world comes crashing down, and suddenly she is Sharona again, moving back in with her mother, father, brother and grandmother in the projects, trying to reconstruct a life that is blown apart.
While Fabulation is nowhere near as poignant as Intimate Apparel, it has its own frantic charms and even slows its pace slightly in the final scenes as Undine tries to grapple with her new poverty, a man who is interested in her and her family's willingness to accept her even though she turned her back on them.
Literate, deft in dialogue, meaningful -- what more could you want in a play?
May 7, 2023
Two of Lynn Nottage's earlier plays, from 2003 and 2004, before she won the Pulitzer for both “Ruined” and “Sweat”.
I have not seen either of these plays, but judging from the scripts I would judge “Intimate Apparel” to be the better play. I like the structure and movement between scenes and characters. Also, the time period (1905) felt authentic.
“Fabulation”, set in the current day, tended to be metafictional, with the main character Undine breaking the fourth wall to talk to the audience a lot. There's a difference between Hamlet's soliloquys and simply stopping the action and acknowledging the audience as watchers. The progress of the play was also a little too like the Book of Job for me, with Undine rich and on top at the beginning and losing everything in rapid order. There are a lot of things happening quickly and actors changing roles constantly. In the notes Nottage writes that the pace should be “rapid and fluid”, and it certainly reads that way, but I'd have to see it staged to see if it works.
I have not seen either of these plays, but judging from the scripts I would judge “Intimate Apparel” to be the better play. I like the structure and movement between scenes and characters. Also, the time period (1905) felt authentic.
“Fabulation”, set in the current day, tended to be metafictional, with the main character Undine breaking the fourth wall to talk to the audience a lot. There's a difference between Hamlet's soliloquys and simply stopping the action and acknowledging the audience as watchers. The progress of the play was also a little too like the Book of Job for me, with Undine rich and on top at the beginning and losing everything in rapid order. There are a lot of things happening quickly and actors changing roles constantly. In the notes Nottage writes that the pace should be “rapid and fluid”, and it certainly reads that way, but I'd have to see it staged to see if it works.
May 30, 2018
Five solid stars for Intimate Apparel which I loved so much that Fabulation paled in comparison. Lynn Nottage always goes hard on the wistfulness and it is my favourite thing. Intimate Apparel is a perfect collision of my interests: letter writing, boarding houses, immigration, the Lower East Side, and forbidden physical contact.
March 26, 2020
Honestly, I don't read plays very often yet Intimate Apparel & Fabulation have made me rethink that decision. Intimate Apparel was so lovely and heartbreaking and hopeful that I didn't think I could really like Fabulation just as much - I was wrong. Both are beautifully written so I can't wait to read more by Nottage and also see one of her plays performed. Very satisfying.
June 26, 2021
Intimate Apparel - 4 stars
Fabulation - 2.5 stars
Fabulation - 2.5 stars
December 3, 2020
3.5 for intimate apparel
5 for fabulation
5 for fabulation
February 3, 2015
Lynn Nottage is one of my favorite playwrights. And this is a discovery I've made recently.
Intimate Apparel is one of the most beautiful plays I've ever read and Fabulation is so fun! Both Esther in Intimate Apparel and Undine from Fabulation were two women that I could have spent 6 more plays with.
I have Ruined and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark on my To-Read List and I can't wait to see how Nottage navigates those two very different worlds.
Intimate Apparel is one of the most beautiful plays I've ever read and Fabulation is so fun! Both Esther in Intimate Apparel and Undine from Fabulation were two women that I could have spent 6 more plays with.
I have Ruined and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark on my To-Read List and I can't wait to see how Nottage navigates those two very different worlds.
February 8, 2018
5 out of 5 stars! ⭐️ These two plays are amazing. Beautifully written and they capture the idea of the American dream and its myth so so well! Loved it. 👏🏻📚
May 30, 2017
Wow. I wasn't expecting to like the second play, Fabulation, as much as I did because it is contemporary. But wow! I can't believe I put off reading it so long!
June 3, 2024
I read "Fabulation" first (from April 12 to 18) and I really like how this play has several mini arcs, each of which reveals one of Undine's internalized -isms AND shows her actively "removing" those stereotyped ideas from her ways of thinking. I think that all of Undine's experiences (that all stemmed from Hervé leaving her and taking all her money with him) forced her to come to terms not only with her past, but also with different identities and perspectives altogether. Overall, Undine learns that she didn’t need to hide her roots to achieve success and joy in life + she unlearns this shame that she felt towards her family (which stemmed from her internalized -isms that she "absorbed" in PWIs and corporate life).
I read "Intimate Apparel" twice (a year apart) but I'll be writing about my second read (from April 20 to 22) which I enjoyed more. I read this play for two different English classes and I didn't like the first English class that I read this for, so I think that's why I liked this play better my second read.
Esther and Mrs. Van Buren's relationship really shows the "grass feels greener on the other side" phenomenon. Mrs. Van Buren is living the life of a married woman, which gives her a social status that Esther doesn't have as a single woman in her mid-thirties, and so Esther envies her for that. Esther, meanwhile, has financial independence and social freedom as a single woman who makes intimate apparel for a living. Mrs. Van Buren wishes to explore her sexuality, but she is 'stuck' in her marriage (considering that divorce was very taboo in the early 1900s + there is no love left in her relationship with Mr. Van Buren). Mrs. Van Buren also wishes she could leave her home/marriage, but she does not have the financial resources to do so. For both these reasons, Mrs. Van Buren envies Esther.
I think Esther and Mrs. Van Buren's relationship says something about the power dynamics between a white woman and a Black woman. In this story, the white woman (Mrs. Van Buren) is the one who made a move on a Black woman (Esther). There were no consequences for Mrs. Van Buren (which would be expected considering how taboo it was to be queer in the early 1900s + considering that Mrs. Van Buren had, essentially, cheated on her husband). However, what would have happened if Esther had kissed Mrs. Van Buren? Would there be consequences for her? Overall, I think Mrs. Van Buren tried to use Esther as a vessel to experiment with her sexuality, and I don't know if she would have had the audacity to do that if Esther were white.
I read "Intimate Apparel" twice (a year apart) but I'll be writing about my second read (from April 20 to 22) which I enjoyed more. I read this play for two different English classes and I didn't like the first English class that I read this for, so I think that's why I liked this play better my second read.
Esther and Mrs. Van Buren's relationship really shows the "grass feels greener on the other side" phenomenon. Mrs. Van Buren is living the life of a married woman, which gives her a social status that Esther doesn't have as a single woman in her mid-thirties, and so Esther envies her for that. Esther, meanwhile, has financial independence and social freedom as a single woman who makes intimate apparel for a living. Mrs. Van Buren wishes to explore her sexuality, but she is 'stuck' in her marriage (considering that divorce was very taboo in the early 1900s + there is no love left in her relationship with Mr. Van Buren). Mrs. Van Buren also wishes she could leave her home/marriage, but she does not have the financial resources to do so. For both these reasons, Mrs. Van Buren envies Esther.
I think Esther and Mrs. Van Buren's relationship says something about the power dynamics between a white woman and a Black woman. In this story, the white woman (Mrs. Van Buren) is the one who made a move on a Black woman (Esther). There were no consequences for Mrs. Van Buren (which would be expected considering how taboo it was to be queer in the early 1900s + considering that Mrs. Van Buren had, essentially, cheated on her husband). However, what would have happened if Esther had kissed Mrs. Van Buren? Would there be consequences for her? Overall, I think Mrs. Van Buren tried to use Esther as a vessel to experiment with her sexuality, and I don't know if she would have had the audacity to do that if Esther were white.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 4, 2019
This was my first time reading Lynn Nottage and if these earlier plays of hers are an indication, I can see why she's a repeat Pulitzer winner.
Intimate Apparel - five stars! This play was so good. It was a bit like reading a novel in a way, very atmospheric and I felt transported, even just by reading words on the page. I think the experience of seeing this performed would really push this play over the top for me. The characters were so vivid and well done and I loved the way their storylines began to overlap. The ending is tragic and poignant and it really resonated with me.
The only thing that I didn't like about this play was one moment when Esther touches Mr. Marks' back without him knowing (or at least with the intention of him to not realize it) after Mr. Marks had explained in a previous scene that for religious reasons he can't touch people of the opposite sex who he isn't his wife or related to him. Esther then says that she knows she isn't supposed to do it, but couldn't help it, and this moment just made me uncomfortable because she is knowingly crossing a boundary between them. I know people who also follow this religious observance, and knowing how they react to this being violated (and usually, their distress at it) makes me unable to read this scene without feeling uncomfortable. I don't think it's Nottage making a specific commentary on this religious practice, it was just something I experienced as a reader, and overall did not detract from my enjoyment of the play. I also don't think this really damages the way I view the relationship between Esther and Mr. Marks - since it's a beautiful and tragic one.
Fabulation - three and a half stars. I feel more conflicted about this play. It reads well, and I did enjoy it, but I wasn't nearly as invested in the characters, specifically not the main character. The back of this book says Fabulation is a sort of modern imagining of Intimate Apparel, and that isn't very obvious to me. I don't see it. I don't like Undine as much as Esther and while reading these plays back to back and consciously comparing them, I don't think I had much of a choice when it comes to liking this play less.
I would still definitely recommend both of these plays.
Intimate Apparel - five stars! This play was so good. It was a bit like reading a novel in a way, very atmospheric and I felt transported, even just by reading words on the page. I think the experience of seeing this performed would really push this play over the top for me. The characters were so vivid and well done and I loved the way their storylines began to overlap. The ending is tragic and poignant and it really resonated with me.
The only thing that I didn't like about this play was one moment when Esther touches Mr. Marks' back without him knowing (or at least with the intention of him to not realize it) after Mr. Marks had explained in a previous scene that for religious reasons he can't touch people of the opposite sex who he isn't his wife or related to him. Esther then says that she knows she isn't supposed to do it, but couldn't help it, and this moment just made me uncomfortable because she is knowingly crossing a boundary between them. I know people who also follow this religious observance, and knowing how they react to this being violated (and usually, their distress at it) makes me unable to read this scene without feeling uncomfortable. I don't think it's Nottage making a specific commentary on this religious practice, it was just something I experienced as a reader, and overall did not detract from my enjoyment of the play. I also don't think this really damages the way I view the relationship between Esther and Mr. Marks - since it's a beautiful and tragic one.
Fabulation - three and a half stars. I feel more conflicted about this play. It reads well, and I did enjoy it, but I wasn't nearly as invested in the characters, specifically not the main character. The back of this book says Fabulation is a sort of modern imagining of Intimate Apparel, and that isn't very obvious to me. I don't see it. I don't like Undine as much as Esther and while reading these plays back to back and consciously comparing them, I don't think I had much of a choice when it comes to liking this play less.
I would still definitely recommend both of these plays.
October 31, 2021
Intimate Apparel—
5 Stars.
I absolutely adore this play all of the characters in it. The writing is so vivid and clear that I don't feel like I've lost anything in reading this play over seeing it (although I'm sure I have). I love the descriptions of the fabrics and beats throughout the dialogue. It's beautiful. I would especially love to see various costume designers takes on the garments mentioned.
Fabulation—
4 Stars.
Fabulation is a very well done play, but I was much less drawn to the characters than those of Intimate Apparel. Though just as vivid and interesting, they seemed less unique and quite a bit less sympathetic. I don't really care for plays about babies and motherhood, so this was a bit of loss (at absolutely no fault of the playwrights). For a different audience, I am sure this is a hit.
5 Stars.
I absolutely adore this play all of the characters in it. The writing is so vivid and clear that I don't feel like I've lost anything in reading this play over seeing it (although I'm sure I have). I love the descriptions of the fabrics and beats throughout the dialogue. It's beautiful. I would especially love to see various costume designers takes on the garments mentioned.
Fabulation—
4 Stars.
Fabulation is a very well done play, but I was much less drawn to the characters than those of Intimate Apparel. Though just as vivid and interesting, they seemed less unique and quite a bit less sympathetic. I don't really care for plays about babies and motherhood, so this was a bit of loss (at absolutely no fault of the playwrights). For a different audience, I am sure this is a hit.
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April 28, 2019I had a really beautiful and expensive lingerie collection when I graduated from law school. There was one corset with a thong that matched. The thong had this string with a crystal at the end that matched the one on the corset. Most of the lingerie was expensive but there were a few pieces I’d thrown out after using once in an old hamper that I never got around to emptying. All of my lingerie was destroyed by someone, probably the same person or people that destroyed my wardrobe while I was Bar studying at my parents house in 2013.
December 10, 2019
**3.5 stars**
Intimate Apparel was a re-read for me. I enjoyed it but imagine that it's better to see it performed on the stage. Since we don't get too many scenes with Esther and Mr. Marks, it's difficult to feel the connection between them, even if we know it's there.
Fabulation I hadn't read before. I liked it but felt that the situation Undine finds herself in over the course of Act I, which I found quite intriguing, doesn't have enough pay off in Act II. Also didn't like that her character breaks the fourth wall to give occasional expository asides to the audience.
Intimate Apparel was a re-read for me. I enjoyed it but imagine that it's better to see it performed on the stage. Since we don't get too many scenes with Esther and Mr. Marks, it's difficult to feel the connection between them, even if we know it's there.
Fabulation I hadn't read before. I liked it but felt that the situation Undine finds herself in over the course of Act I, which I found quite intriguing, doesn't have enough pay off in Act II. Also didn't like that her character breaks the fourth wall to give occasional expository asides to the audience.
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November 4, 2024i had to see intimate apparel for class and i am writing a paper on it. someone in that class mentioned fabulation in a totally different context and it’s been sitting in my pile of library books for a couple weeks, meanwhile i had no idea that nottage considers them to be sister plays. i want to read more about what that means but both are sort of pulled along by these unlikely discoveries of tenderness that are so so striking when performed. like don’t get me started on the japanese silk smoking jacket. i luv plays
September 29, 2024
Lynn Nottage is one of my favorite playwrights and since I am seeing Intimate Apparel in a few weeks, I wanted to read it before then. I liked Fabulation better -- I liked that Undine/Sharona broke the 4th wall. The plays are certainly companion pieces and magnify that women's lives have changed in many ways but in many ways they have not. Esther and Undine are the same character separated by 100 years. I would like to see both plays performed together.
February 6, 2022
Intimate Apparel is a wonderfully fashioned (pun unintended) play, but Fabulation is really the underrated gem for me -- Nottage pulls off a particular blend of humor and pathos pretty slickly here, and reading it fired the directorial gears in my brain, so that's a good sign. What I'm finding through these plays is that Nottage is really good at sucker punching you in her endings.
September 14, 2023
Intimate apparel so good. Love lingerie. Would love to see the performance. Fabulation was kinda like incredibly interesting as well (w the Esther reimagined context) but I think I'd mostly only want to see it performed if the two were a duo. Idk if they do double feature plays like that tho?
I love plays; this is the year of me enjoying plays --rotating apples (scenes) in my mind.
I love plays; this is the year of me enjoying plays --rotating apples (scenes) in my mind.
April 9, 2019
holy fuck i am not okay. you know when you love something so deeply and it touches you so intimately that you don't even want to articulate why you love it because it's that intimate and vulnerable. yeah that's me
November 11, 2021
Great playwright. Saw production of this at Utah Shakespeare. Reading the text offers greater insight as each word and each sentence is carefully and precisely selected. This play was also turned into an opera.
March 6, 2019
Course Reading
February 22, 2020
Lynn Nottage does it again! Phenomenal.
November 23, 2020
Beautifully crafted pieces.
March 15, 2021
3.5 ⭐️
October 13, 2021
Absolutely loved intimate apparel.
December 29, 2021
Nottage uses such beautiful language in these plays. They're both unique and a pleasure to read. I look forward to reading more of her work.
May 22, 2023
Only read the first play “Intimate Apparel” in this but loved it
January 5, 2021
One of my favorites of all time
July 24, 2016
#4 & #5 on the list. Breathtaking language and images here. Drawn in by the history, the hope, despair, the struggle in each play. The Image of Fabric--the sensuality of them...the epistolary sections all lend to a vibrant storytelling in Intimate Apparel, whilst Fabulation explodes with colorful modern urbanism and humor. Undine's worst enemy seems to be herself and her unexpected homecoming is rife with satire and moments where I literally put my face in my hands saying "Nooooo! Don't do that! Don't say that!" Savory.
April 10, 2010
I have great admiration for those who can do dialogue well--and especially the dramatists, for whom acute understanding of timing is also essential. Lynn Nottage is masterful. And, most of all, I love the great empathy that suffuses her plays, her ability to keenly inhabit all those lives...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews