© G.D.

Kimble 2013

gdkimble@[Link]
718.501.7552

℅Max Grossman
Abrams Artists Agency
646.486.4600
mgrossman@[Link]
characters

Joshua​
… a man in his 30s

Ally ​
… a woman in her 20s

an Attendant

time/place

A posh downtown loft in a major American city.

Right now.
Intimacy a short play by G.D. Kimble
characters
Joshua, a man in his 30s

Ally, a woman in her 20s

an Assistant
time/place

A lavish loft in a fashionable part of a major American

city. Right now.
In a mint condition vintage barber chair sits
Joshua. He rests his head against the chair with
his eyes closed, deep in thought. He’s in that
very precious place of relaxation-- not quite
conscious, but certainly not sleeping. If he were
a spiritual man of any stripe, he’d recognize this
state as meditative.

From somewhere within the loft, we hear its heavy

metal industrial doors open and close, with a big
clash of levers and latches-- followed faintly by
the sound of very expensive heels on the stairs.
Ally enters, hanging her thin, designer topcoat on
a hook. She is dressed to the nines.
She drops a set of keys into a glass bowl near the
door, then crosses through the room gliding past
Joshua.

ALLY
I’m a little early, so I let myself in.
JOSHUA
That’s fine. That’s why you have a key. You smell
fantastic.
ALLY
Thank you, it’s new.
JOSHUA
Driver have an easy time coming across town?
ALLY
Always.
Ally exits through another set of doors.
 2.

JOSHUA
When I woke up this morning, I’d forgotten you were
coming.
ALLY (OFF)
Should I be insulted?
JOSHUA
Not at all, I’m just forgetful. I lose track of the
days sometimes. Regardless of what’s on the schedule.

ALLY
Or maybe you simply don’t have enough things to occupy
yourself.
She returns, wheeling in a small dark cherry wood
cart. It is very simple and elegant. On it, there
sits a large silver pitcher, an old-fashioned
porcelain wash basin, and a wooden box matching
the cart.
JOSHUA
I have more things than I have room for them.

ALLY
I didn’t mean literal things. Objects. I meant
philosophical things. "Things" with a capital "t".
JOSHUA
I have those in spades as well.
With her foot, she taps the footrest of his barber
chair, spinning him slightly to face her.

ALLY
Is this a new chair?
JOSHUA
Took you long enough to notice. Ask me where I got it.

ALLY
Where?
JOSHUA
Guess.

ALLY
I couldn’t begin.
JOSHUA
Burma. Can you believe it?
 3.

ALLY
Well, I believe it’s no longer called Burma.
JOSHUA
It was when the damn chair was built.

ALLY
Touche.
JOSHUA
I found a guy and he found the chair. Restored it
himself. By hand. In Burma. Like it?
ALLY
Very much. How long have you had this in the works?
JOSHUA
Five or six months.
ALLY
So, each week, for six months, you’ve kept this project
quiet?

JOSHUA
I wanted to impress you? Impressed?
ALLY
Very. It’s quite the upgrade.

JOSHUA
And there’s more--
ALLY
Of course--

JOSHUA
Take a look in the box.
Ally opens the small wooden box and produces a
gleaming silver straight razor.

With a deft flick of the wrist, she opens it--

admiring it in the light.
ALLY
Schroeder Berlin. It’s exquisite.
(a beat)
May I ask?
JOSHUA
Sixteen hundred.
 4.

ALLY
Well worth it.
JOSHUA
Let’s see.

From the beneath the cart, Ally takes a pristine

white barber’s cape, draping it over Joshua.
ALLY
(tying the neck)
Too tight?
JOSHUA
Perfect.
She picks up the pitcher, placing her free hand on
the bottom, sides.
JOSHUA (CONT’)
Too hot?
ALLY
Hot enough.
She pours the pitcher into the porcelain basin, a
gentle plume of steam rises from the water.
Next, she soaks a white towel in the water, wrings
it damp, and places it on Joshua’s face, massaging
a bit.
From the box, she takes a brush and cream, wetting
the brush in the basin.

She places a hand on the back of his neck, pulling

herself very close, and slowly lathers his face.
ALLY (CONT’)
Is that nice?

JOSHUA
Perfect.
She deftly opens the razor. She lays his head to
one side, and slowly draws the blade up the left
side of his neck.
ALLY
This razor is a revelation.
 5.

JOSHUA
Isn’t it just?
ALLY
Worth every penny.

With just as much care, she begins to shave him.

Slowly up the neck, stopping at the jawline, and
down his cheeks, chin, and mustache. She pulls
herself close to him, her face to his face, her
chest to his chest. Each time the blade comes near
his throat, he sighs. The conversation continues
as she shaves.
JOSHUA
In my youth, I never appreciated the serenity of the
straight razor.

ALLY
That’s not surprising. Everything is about speed when
you’re young.
JOSHUA
As an older man, I’ve learned to savor the things that
are meant to be slow. Sometimes-- peeling the orange is
just as good as eating it.
ALLY
Behave.

JOSHUA
What? I’m only sharing life lessons.
ALLY
I think you’re trying to share much more than that.

JOSHUA
You see right through me. You look fantastic by the
way.

ALLY
Your flattery. Thank you.
He looks down over her figure.
JOSHUA
Perfect.
ALLY
Straighten up.
(tilts his head straight)
You and perfection. It’s always a chase isn’t it.
 6.

JOSHUA
Neverending. We have our drives. Mine is the search for
something... I don’t know.. what? Exquisite. Something
sublime.

ALLY
And you believe it exists? This unnamed something.
JOSHUA
(again looking at her figure)
These moments are close.

ALLY
(taking his head in her hand)
Careful. Another cheeky move like that, and your head
may come off.

JOSHUA
It’d be worth it to leave this world with that view.
ALLY
(as she focuses on his throat)
My god. You’re lucky I’m patient woman.

JOSHUA
What? This is repartee. That’s our thing. We inch
closer each session, doling out just the right amount
of information to keep the machinery moving. I’m
actually helping you a great deal.

ALLY
I’m hesitant to ask, but how so?
JOSHUA
Well.. to keep up your skills in coquettery. That’s the
kind of thing you learn in posh boarding schools, isn’t
it?
ALLY
Oh well thank you. I suppose next we’ll brush up my
archery and phrenology. Tell me, how long have you
believed I went to school in a Thomas Hardy novel?
JOSHUA
You didn’t? Get the hell out of my house.

ALLY
I didn’t go to school at all, really.
JOSHUA
Really?
 7.

ALLY
Does that surprise you?
JOSHUA
A bit. You’re so... That doesn’t offend you does it?

ALLY
Not at all.
JOSHUA
You’re so... put together, is what I’m trying to say.

ALLY
It wasn’t for me. School, I mean.
JOSHUA
Well you’ve done ok for yourself.

ALLY
That’s survival.
She turns away and rinses the razor in the basin.
Letting her free hand rest on his chest. She
resumes shaving.
ALLY
Is the blade warm enough?
JOSHUA
Is any?
ALLY
Do you like speaking in riddles?
JOSHUA
Do I?
ALLY
Incorrigible. Be a good boy or I may cut you.

JOSHUA
You haven’t yet, and you’ve had many chances.
ALLY
You mean opportunities?

JOSHUA
You’re wicked.
She smiles.
 8.

ALLY
I’m almost done.
JOSHUA
That’s the catch-22. You’ve gotten so good at this,
that it doesn’t last nearly long enough.

ALLY
Pity. Maybe we can work something out for the future.
(beat)
There we are.

She steps back to admire her handiwork, and towels

him off. She looks again, just to be sure, then
take the cape from around him-- stashing it back
on the cart.

JOSHUA
Excellent work, good lady.
ALLY
Thank you, kind sir.

A long moment passes. She gingerly rinses the

razor in the basin, dries it and carefully places
it back in its box, then places the box back on
the cart.
JOSHUA
Next week, then?
ALLY
Always.
JOSHUA
Are you sure I can’t pay you?
ALLY
Never will you.

JOSHUA
Ok.
A long moment passes. She collects her coat, and
the keys from the bowl and exits.

We hear her heels going down the stairs, followed

by the clatter of the door.
A long moment passes and Joshua is alone in the
barber chair.
 9.

Then. From the anteroom, an Assistant enters. The

assistant goes to Joshua, gently pushing the cart
clear of the barber chair.
He then, goes to the other room and returns with a
wheelchair.
The attendant crosses Joshua’s arms over his chest
and lifts him from the one chair to the other.
He wheels Joshua away.

FADE TO BLACK
END OF PLAY