Relaxed Performance 15th February @ 2.15pm Carne Theatre, LAMDA Running Time: 2 Hours 20 Minutes, including a 15 minute interval. For this show you will be asked to go back to the foyer during the interval for a set-change. Content warnings: Contains themes of an adult nature, including racism, and scenes of a sexual nature. Smoking.
RELAXED PERFORMANCES AT LAMDA • You are welcome to come and go from the theatre as you need. • There is a break-out room available. • House lighting is on low throughout, never going to full black-out. • Loud noises are reduced in sound level. • No strobe lighting Is used. • You are welcome to react to the show however you may need. • At the end of this document is a show synopsis/sensory guide.
Here is a guide to sensory information symbols in this document: Indicates potentially loud or sudden noises
Indicates bright or sudden lighting changes
Indicates a sad or potentially distressing scene
Indicates fighting, or use of guns/weapons
Arriving at LAMDA
When you arrive at LAMDA, the box office is to your right. You should pick up your ticket here, using your name.
You will be asked to show proof of double vaccination using the NHS App, or a negative lateral flow result taken in the last 24 hours. Unless you are exempt, you will be asked to wear a mask at all times while in the building.
Toilets are located right next to box office.
Toile
LAMDA staff will be wearing LAMDA branded T-Shirts. If you need any assistance whilst in the building, please ask them.
This is the Theatre Foyer. You may be asked to wait here until the house is open.
This performance will take place in the Carne Theatre.
This is the entrance.
When you enter the theatre, an Usher will take your ticket from you. You are welcome to sit where you like. This is what the stage will look like when you enter.
You can come and go from the space whenever you like. The house lights will stay on low throughout the show.
There is a break-out space called ‘The Rittner Room’ which you are welcome to use at any point during the performance. It can be accessed via the stairs or lift in the main entrance foyer.
If you aren’t sure at any point during your visit where to go, please ask an usher.
Before the show begins, the actors will introduce themselves and the characters they are playing.
There is an interval in this performance. This will be indicated by the lights getting brighter. It will be 15 minutes long. You are welcome to stay in your seat.
An usher will let you know when the show is starting again. The house lights will dim.
The lights in the theatre will become brighter, and you can exit the theatre through the door you came in through.
At the end of the show the actors will come on and bow. You are welcome to clap at this point if you would like.
CHARACTERS:
Jordan Barton plays George
Victoria Grant plays Esther
Here is a picture of Jordan
Here is a picture of Victoria
Mackenzie Larsen plays Mrs Van Buren
Here is a picture of Mackenzie
Hari Mackinnon plays Mr Marks
Here is a picture of Hari
Brandie Peterson plays Mrs Dickson
Here is a picture of Brandie
Alyssa Rayomie Tibbs plays Mayme
Here is a picture of Alyssa
SHOW SYNOPSIS / WHAT TO EXPECT Act One 1905 New York City. Esther, a Black seamstress, lives in a boarding house for women and sews intimate apparel for clients who range from wealthy White patrons to Black sex workers. Her skills and discretion are much in demand, and she has managed to stuff a good sum of money into her quilt over the years. Her plan is to find the right man and use the money she's saved to open a beauty parlor where black women will be treated as royally as the white women she sews for. By way of a mutual acquaintance, she begins to receive beautiful letters from a lonesome Caribbean man, who lives in Barbados, named George Armstrong who is working on the Panama Canal. Being illiterate, Esther has one of her patrons, Mrs Van Buren – and her friend Mayme respond to the letters, and over time the correspondence becomes increasingly intimate until George persuades her that they should marry, sight unseen. Meanwhile, Esther's heart seems to lie with Mr Marks, the shopkeeper from whom she buys fabric, and his heart with her, but the impossibility of the match is obvious to them both, and Esther consents to marry George.
Act Two
When George arrives in New York, however, he turns out not to be the man his letters painted him to be, and he absconds with Esther's savings, frittering it away. It is also revealed that George has been having an affair with Mayme, a friend of Esthers. Deeply wounded by the betrayal, but somehow unbroken, Esther returns to the boarding house determined to use her gifted hands and her
sewing machine to refashion her dreams and make them anew from the whole cloth of her life's experiences. The final stage directions reveal that Esther is also pregnant
Throughout the show, the actors will use the entrances and exits either side of the audience seating banks.
Sensory Story
The actor playing Esther is sat on stage sewing. Music plays, the lights dim and the actor playing Mrs Dickenson is heard offstage.
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The actor playing George enters on top of the piano, and the lights dim.
A voice Is heard from behind the screen to the right of the stage. The actor playing Mrs Van Buren enters in underwear. They discuss how Mrs Van Buren can help Esther write back to George.
The lights change, and Esther converses with the actor playing Mr Marks. She touches him and he jolts away from her. He explains it is because of his faith, and nothing to do with her race.
Piano music plays, and the actor playing Mayme enters. Esther visits Mayme and Maybe explains how a man she has just been with has been violent towards her.
Mayme plays the paino and sings, Esther joins in. The lights fade, George enters and asks Esther to consider marrying him.
Mrs Van Buren enters. She and Esther converse, and discuss Mrs Van Buren’s husband’s anger at not being able to conceive. Mrs Van Buren talks about going to the opera and ‘coloured’ shows, and how she would like to take Esther to the Opera, but can’t.
Esther visits Mr Marks again, this time to get wedding dress material. Mr Marks talks about how his coat belonged to his dead father.
George enters. He has arrived in New York. He and Ester meet in the middle of the stage, the lights go out.
INTERVAL – This is for a set change, please head to the foyer.
A bed is now centre stage. The lights Dim. Esther and George enter.
It is their wedding night. Esther gives Georgie a blue gentleman’s jacket she has made him. George is insistent on them getting to bed. He begins to undress Esther. They lie together in bed.
The Lights flash at a low level. Music plays. The actors pull a long piece of red fabric out across the audience and dance with it.
Esther visits Mayme. Mayme describes a man she has been seeing, who is married. She shows Esther the blue gentleman’s jacket that has been gifted to her by the man, Esther realises it Is George.
George is in a bad mood with Esther. They argue.
Esther sees Mrs Van Buren. Mrs Van Buren declares a love for Esther. They argue, and Esther mentions that she’s never been allowed through the front door, so isn’t a friend. Mrs Van Buren throws the money she owes Esther onto the bed.
Esther gets dressed up to impress George. He dismisses her. George persuades Esther to give him all her savings from inside her quilt, so that he can secure a better life for them. .
Esther visits Mayme, who is trying to get rid of her as her lover is on his way. They argue. Esther reveals to Mayme that it’s George. They ignore his knocks at the door.
Esther goes to visit Mr Marks. She gives him the Silk Gentleman’s jacket. He takes off his black coat, and puts it on.
Esther is back at the boarding house with Mrs Dickson. She clutches her belly to indicate that she is with child. The lights fade out.
The End of the Show.