Review: This Bitter Earth at Soho Theatre

First things first: if you are in London June/July to use playwright Harrison David Rivers’ language, you need to get your cute butt down to the Soho Theatre and see This Bitter Earth.

Actually, if you are anywhere in the UK or abroad and visiting London, then you need to get your butt, cute or otherwise, down to see Rivers’ play This Bitter Earth.

It‘s a gobsmacking, highly dense, highly emotional, story about pure, messy, unconditional love; about hatred, violence, prejudice - but above all unconditional love.

Jesse (Omari Douglas) is a black playwright - serious, passionate. As Rivers tells us “he uses his wit like a weapon”. Neil (Alexander Lincoln) is compassionate, highly privileged, white and means well.

Accidentally, it seems, Neil is handed a megaphone at a protest and starts to quote black gay poet Essex Hemphill’s work. This is both a turn-off and a turn-on for Jesse and the couple start a loving relationship which sits as the emotional centrepiece of this densely layered drama.

It seems they have little in common - except the deep passion of their loving bond with each other. Arguments about white privilege, racism, police brutality, oppression of blacks and gays swing back and forth in this 75-minute drama, and there is much humour in the clash of personalities. Neil is growingly committed to the protests against black murders, while Neil dives creeper into his soul for inspiration to write - and is not at all willing to get physically involved in the protests.

“Leave things better than you found them,” Jesse exhorts as Neil departs yet again for another protest meeting.

The play is episodic and non-linear, and some scenes, especially the lead up to a terrible, tragic death, are repeated to strip away another layer of meaning.

Both Omari and Alexander hold us in the palm of their hands. We hang on their every word, with much dark humour overlaid with a deep sense of humanity and care. They are faultless in their performances.

On his London directorial debut, the inimitable Billy Porter gives the actors room to breathe but keeps the action speedy and clear. It’s helped by outstanding lighting by Lee Curran and scenic design by Morgan Large. 

In the end we feel that love can conquer all the hate in the world - but it’s not an easy love. And as Hemphill says: “take care of your blessings.”

This Bitter Earth is at the Soho Theatre until 26 July. Tickets HERE