Imagine the enduring core friendship in “The Shawshank Redemption” but between women and without uplift and you’ve got a bead on Off-Broadway’s “And I and Silence.”  Earnest but insubstantial, Naomi Wallace’s drama follows Dee, who’s white, and Jamie, who’s black. In 1950, they meet as teens in prison, one for a stabbing, the other for unstated reasons. After a tentative beginning, they forge a bond so strong they can finish each other’s sentences — in rhyme, no less, in a strange choice by the writer, who borrowed her title from an Emily Dickinson poem.  The inmates anticipate the future on the outside, where they’ll start over as maids. Jamie schools Dee in the art of impressing a boss: When dusting, hold the cloth so that it flutters like the wings of bird. Even drudgery holds potential for grace — but life is hard. Nine years later, they reconnect in a small apartment. But they’re still caged by sexism, racism and poverty. The story goes back and forth between eras. A grim, melodramatic and predictable twist arrives on cue.  Wallace, a Kentucky writer with numerous awards, succeeds at establishing a mood but not much tension in this play, which launches her season-long residency at Signature Theatre. Her characters are sketchy even though they’re depicted in duplicate.  Trae Harris and Emily Skeggs play the characters as teens and Rachel Nicks and Samantha Soule as their older selves. All four are uniformly strong. Director Caitlin McLeod’s staging has a fitting claustrophobic feel. But the play’s 90 minutes tick by slowly — like you’re doing time.
Women are caged by prison bars and life's cruel realities in Naomi Wallace's Off-Broadway drama "And I and Silence' at Signature Center