ENGL 233: All Ah We

Discussion Framework
Lynn Nottage Intimate Apparel

OPENING SONG TO JUMPSTART DISCUSSION

• Youtube: Giveon, “For Tonight” (reference to the forbidden attraction between Esther and
Mr. Marks.

SETTING, MAIN CHARACTERS, PLOT, GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES

• New York City; Panama Canal
• Vantage Points: Working Class, Urban, African American vs. Poor, West Indian Laborer –
Eventual Immigrant
o Note: That they both work with their hands and work via skilled labor
• Esther (pay attention to which character begins a play and which character ends the play. It is their story)
• George (deceptive, greedy, brutish, hyper-sexed, unfaithful, manipulative, gambler, multiple personalities,
narcissist, ….)
• Circumstances of Esther’s life that led her to correspond with George
• Time Period: 1905 (turn of the century; camera, Modernity, American minstrelsy, prior to
New Negro Movement/Harlem Renaissance took full swing)
• …

THEMES/TAKE-AWAYS
• Love (pursuit of, unrequited, as adornment, as intangible, as making do, as illicit (ie. Mr. Marks,
dangerous, sacrificial, …)
• Beauty; the ability to see beauty where others cannot (Esther & Mr. Marks)
• Notion that one can be “used up,” “aged,” “discarded” (Esther, Mayme)
o Note that Esther does not want her creations to be treated as refuse or without care
• Inhibition vs. Reckless Abandonment
• Desire
• Keeping Up Appearances
• …

Not quite the Island; But Important to Note

• Beautiful and Well-Crafted Play & Play Text (Scene titles; Imagery; Historically synonymous
use of camera & photographs
• Nottage does not present an insular world (Mrs. Dickson, Mrs. Van Buren, Mr. Marks,
Mayme, George’s letter)
• Did you notice that all of the scenes take place in someone’s bedroom?
• Presentation of Illiteracy
• Music!
• Presentation of varying Sexualities
• Mobility of Clothing
• A Sensual Play! See, Hear (music, dialects), Smell, Touch/Feel, Taste
(i.e. ESTHER: “And he still smell of salt and ground nuts.” (Act 2, Scene 1))
• …
Esther and/vs. George (thinking through their presentation, representation, choices, mobility,
purpose,…)
o Loyalty, Views on Marriage
o Escape/Aspiration – important for both
o Represented as: “Old World” vs. “New World”; Civilized vs. Uncivilized; Assimilated vs.
Primitive
o Immigration vs. Migration
o Relationship to Money
o …

GEORGE!
Imagining – George as the Caribbean personified - Exoticism
Excerpt from Act 1, Scene 1:
MAYME: “Is he as we imagined?”
ESTHER: “Yes, he is sturdy enough and quite a pleasure to behold. His hands thick, stained
dark from work. North Carolina field hands. But he got a melodious voice, each word a song
unto itself…And when he finally fell asleep I placed my head and his chest, and listened for
the song of cicadas at dusk, and imagined the sweet aroma of the mango trees and the giant
flamboyant with its crimson tears.”
Other examples from the text liken him to the excess, dark depths, and vastness of Caribbean Land

Simultaneously Oversexed and an Object of Fetish

Excerpt from Act 2, Scene 4 “Gentlemen’s Suit”:
MAYME: “He ain’t nobody really, but he real sweet. Like a schoolboy almost. We call him
Songbird, ‘cause he sing to speak. Hands crude and calloused…I actually wanted him to kiss
me, I didn’t mind his sour tongue in my mouth, I wanted him there, inside me. He ain’t like
a lot of the colored men who pass through here with anger about their touch…He just
leaves his scent, which lingers until two A.M. or three, and I lie awake until it disappears.

A Quick Study of his Letters

o First Letter (Act 1, Scene 1, end of scene): “digging,” “mosquitos,” “fever,” “Lord knows,”
“covered head to toe in mud”
o Let’s Read Aloud: Progression of Second Letter (Act 1, Scene 2, p. 15): “bathed in mud up
to our necks,” “the land that reach into the earth belly,” “severed the roots of a giant
flamboyant, and watched it tumble to the ground”; “I stood thigh deep in crimson blossoms,
swathed in the sweet aroma of death and wondered how a place so beautiful could become a
morgue”
o Third Letter (Act 1, Scene 4, p. 23): “It is quiet now. The only motion is the rain. The only
sound is the rain.”
§ Important Distinction Here/Why this is not the same: “I imagine your cobble stone
roads and the splendid carriages on the avenues, and a dry place to sit.”

Important Points of Distinction regarding: Race, Gender, Class, Nationality

• Stereotypes of Black Men, within this US Context: It is interesting to note that Nottage
counters Black American male stereotypes (via the men who come to court at Mrs.

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 Dickinson’s) while at the same time activating and reinforcing Black Caribbean Male
stereotypes. Or – she throws Black American male stereotypes towards and onto Black
Caribbean men.
• Nottage sets up a stark distinction that upholds Black American men through a
simultaneous negation and harmful degradation of Black Caribbean Maleness
• Nottage makes a marked distinction of Black manhood that is based on George’s
Nationality
• George as simultaneous Hero & Antihero
• George’s Aspiration and interest in Capitalism, during what was the Great Migration of
African Americans, was presented as undignified selfish greed.
• Whose dreams are allowed in this play?
• The Ironies of George’s Multidimensional Character

Open Discussion: Act Two. When George Arrives…

Open Discussion: End of Act Two

(pregnancy? Mr. Marks?)

Open Discussion: Mr. Marks vs. George, from Esther’s perspective

Open Discussion: Aesthetic of the Play

(Sepia toned Romance set to music; Rich colors, textures, fabrics, )

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