THIS BITTER EARTH

This Bitter Earth by Harrison David Rivers is an intimate, romantic and gripping play about a young black writer and his white activist lover that asks, ‘What is the real cost of standing on the sidelines?’ Now a major new London production, opening at the Soho Theatre from Wednesday 18 June and playing until Saturday 26 July, with a press night on Tuesday 24 June, will mark the UK directorial debut of Grammy Award, Emmy and three-time Tony Award® winner, Billy Porter. This Bitter Earth will star Omari Douglas (C4’s ‘It’s a Sin’ — BAFTA nomination, Constellations alongside Russell Tovey in the West End — Olivier Award Best Actor nomination, and Cliff in original West End cast of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club) as ‘Jesse’ and Alexander Lincoln (cult gay rugby movie In From the Side — Best Actor winner & Best Breakthrough Performance nomination, Jamie Tate in over 300 episodes of ‘Emmerdale,’ ‘Everything I Know About Love,’ BBC1) as ‘Neil.’

At the Million Hoodie March in 2012, Jesse, a young black man, encounters Neil, a young white man who has unwittingly found himself at the front of the crowd with a megaphone in his hand. Flash forward several weeks, and Jesse and Neil have begun dating. However, as the months pass and Neil works his way further into the world of activism, Jesse never enters it. Over the years, Jesse and Neil negotiate the complex ‘firsts’ of their relationship against a backdrop of political demonstrations and discord. With history unfolding around them every day, Jesse and Neil must contend with the fact that, no matter their response to social turmoil, they cannot remain untouched by it.

Billy Porter said: ‘Harrison David Rivers has written a searingly poignant and necessary play about love and loss through the lens of the fraying American Democratic experiment. Simple. Complex. Direct and filled with compassion all at once. I’m thrilled to be a part of bringing this very special piece to life.’

This Bitter Earth is award-winning producer Thomas Hopkins’ first development project through his independently owned company, Thomas Hopkins Productions. THP will focus on producing work in the same vein as his successful West End revival of Martin Sherman’s Rose, starring Maureen Lipman, and Simon Stephen’s Song From Far Away, starring Will Young, at Hampstead Theatre.
Thomas Hopkins said: ‘This Bitter Earth marks an important step in my new company’s continued growth, as we begin in making our footprint in the West End. This play not only brings together the exceptional playwright Harrison David Rivers with the creative visionary in Billy Porter as our director. But also, a team of passionate artists at the top of the world’s theatrical landscape, to create a production that the world needs. This Bitter Earth allows us to learn from each other, grow as individuals and heal as one.’