This Bitter Earth

BY HARRISON DAVID RIVERS

DIRECTED BY GRAMMY, EMMY AND THREE-TIME TONY AWARD WINNER BILLY PORTER

STARRING OMARI DOUGLAS AND ALEXANDER LINCOLN

ON AT SOHO THEATRE 18 JUNE - 26 JULY

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Photo by Tristram Kenton

A beautiful two hander, intense and thoughtful.

I ran the whole emotional roller coaster from laughing out loud to a small tear.

Neil (played by Alexander Lincoln known for his role in Emmerdale) comes from a rich white liberal  family has white guilt and  highly actively political in the Black Lives Matter movement.

Jesse (played by Omari Douglas, a brilliant actor who you may have seen in “Its a Sin”) is black coming from a religious family is non-political. He is an up-and-coming playwright living in the moment and much more emotional reactive.

Set over a turbulent three-year period between 2012 and 2015 it’s a highly charged and political time in America with the rise of Black Lives Matter and the backlash including the shooting of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner as well as the murder of nine black church members in a Charleston Church.

About how they navigate their interracial gay relationship, we watch them fall in love in New York and then move in together in Minnesota watching them navigate life, their differences, families, assumptions, social classes, religion jumping through numerous  nonlinear short snippets of their lives we build up a sense of who they are, the time and place and how they are changed  forever by love.

The narrative and relationship feel authentic and often intense, we experience the roller coaster of strains and emotions of people with differing beliefs, experiences and emotions fall in love and navigate their relationship though good and bad times.

Directed by Billy Porter, well known for his roles in Pose and most recently Cabaret, his first time directing does a fine job with a delicate touch that portrays the messiness and truthfulness of relationships with a sense of constant urgency and passion.

At 90-minutes with no interval  it really flew by. Both actors are on top form and give their all to their performances.  It has a lot to say and for the most part does it very well. It’s helped by the stage design and lighting effects that were all very effective in constantly driving the narrative forward.

Originally written and performed in 2017 unfortunately not much has changed, if anything worse under this second Trump administration

I found This Bitter Earth intense and thoughtful and ran the whole emotional roller coaster from laughing out loud to a small tear.

Remember to take care of your blessings.

Tickets

Soho Theatre: 21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE