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THIS BITTER EARTH Comes to the White Bear Theatre This Month

Performances run Tuesday 21 February – Saturday 11 March 2023.

THIS BITTER EARTH Comes to the White Bear Theatre This Month

When award-winning Black US playwright, librettist, and television writer David Harrison Rivers' modern, nuanced, complex portrait of an interracial relationship received its world premiere at New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco in 2017, it received rave reviews. It has since been staged to great acclaim across the U.S. This February, Storefront Theatre and Sarah Lawrie present its UK premiere in a brand-new production directed by Peter Cieply.

The beginnings of the Black Lives Matter movement. Neil is a White activist from a privileged background. Jesse is an introspective Black writer, reluctant to join any cause. As tensions mount with the extrajudicial killings of Black men throughout the U.S. and uprisings begin, the two men are forced to navigate the politics of their love and find their voices in a turbulent time. Wrestling with issues of race and class, love and loss, this moving and timely story is a haunting reminder of the strength it takes to live out loud.


The two hander features Martin Edwards (Mister Paradise - Trafalgar Studios, The Long Walk Back - national tour)
as Jesse and Max Sterne (To Kill a Mockingbird - Manchester Royal Exchange, Conscious Uncoupling - Vault Festival) as Neil. The design consultant is Isabella Van Braeckel, with lighting design and co sound design (with Peter Cieply) by Chuma Emembolu, and movement direction by Gareth Taylor.



Review: THE DEAD CITY (DIE TOTE STADT), London Coliseum Photo
Annilese Miskimmon directs an arresting new production of Korngold's cult operatic meditation on melancholy

Review: MARJORIE PRIME, Menier Chocolate Factory Photo
Jordan Harrison’s 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist is a reflection on mortality that doesn’t dare to go into the depths of the matter. It ends up being rather stagnant philosophically and anthropologically, but Dominic Dromgoole’s latest production is a delicate take. Running at 85 minutes on paper but around 70 in reality, the piece’s greatly sophisticated performances and sleek look save it from its redundant nature.

Review: WASTED, Lyric Hammersmith Photo
Running at around 50 minutes, it’s snappy and positively Gen-Z in pace and subject. Fernandes crafts a script that wanders from deliciously colloquial to slightly expository, but remains solid throughout. Mundane conversations about parties and cleaning rotas act as the foundation for the pair’s bond, which is bound to be tested and tried once Jacob’s actions are revealed. At its core, it’s a story of friendship and loyalty camouflaged as a crime drama exploring the stigmatisation of sexual violence.

Photos: First Look At English National Operas THE DEAD CITY (DIE TOTE STADT) Photo
See production images for the English National Opera's The Dead City (Die tote Stadt), running 25 March - 8 April 2023.


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