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.