1905, New York City. Esther, a black seamstress, sews exquisite lingerie for clients who range from wealthy white patrons to prostitutes. She has saved enough to allow her to dream of one day opening a beauty salon for black women, and at thirty-five years old, longs for a husband and a future. When she begins to receive beautiful letters from a lonesome Caribbean man who is working on the Panama Canal, it looks like life may be about to take a different course. Intimate Apparel won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play when it first opened in the USA in 2004. It received its UK premiere at the Theatre Royal Bath, before transferring to the Park Theatre, London, in 2014.