Omari Douglas and Alexander Lincoln are now starring in Billy Porter’s production of This Bitter Earth, now playing at the Soho Theatre until Saturday, July 26.
Written by Harrison David Rivers, the intimate, romantic and gripping play tells the story of a young black writer and his white activist lover.
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.
The play marks Porter’s UK directorial debut, with Douglas (It’s a Sin) as Jesse and Lincoln (In From the Side) as Neil. Stanton Plummer-Cambridge (F**king Men) and Luke Striffler (Hairspray) are understudies Jesse and Neil.
This Bitter Earth has set & costume design by Morgan Large, original composition by Sean Green, sound design by Julian Starr, casting by Rob Kelly, production management by Toby Darvill, with Elsie O’Rourke as Company Stage Manager and Jordan Deegan-Fleet as Deputy Stage Manager.
It is produced by Tomas Hopkins, Jana Robbins, Craig Haffner & Sherry Wright, Alex Deacon, Jonathan Kaldor & Kohl Beck in association with John Rogerson and Sarig Peker.
This Bitter Earth is also 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 West End revival of Martin Sherman’s Rose, starring Maureen Lipman, and Simon Stephen’s Song From Far Away, staring Will Young, at Hampstead Theatre.
This Bitter Earth runs at the Soho Theatre until Saturday, July 26. Tickets here.
Top image: This Bitter Earth. Credit Tristram Kenton (image supplied)
