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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: 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.

Review: OF MICE AND MEN, Birmingham Rep Photo
John Steinbeck's 1937 novel, set in California during the Great Depression, may be a period piece, but the parallels with current life in the UK are unmistakable. Dealing with themes of poverty, displacement, prejudice and the desperation for independence, Of Mice and Men makes a timely return to the Birmingham Rep stage in this new production directed by Iqbal Khan.

SWEENEY TODD - THE VICTORIAN MELODRAMA Comes to Wiltons Music Hall Photo
The story of Sweeney Todd first appeared on the stage in London in 1847 at Britannia Theatre, Hoxton, in a melodrama, 'The String of Pearls', based on a popular “penny dreadful” serialised story.


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