'This Bitter Earth' review — Billy Porter directs an intense, politically charged and passionate two-hander

Read our review of This Bitter Earth, starring Omari Douglas and Alexander Lincoln, now in performances at the Soho Theatre to 26 July.

Billy Porter could be forgiven for wanting to put his feet up now that the protean talent has finished his debut West End run in Cabaret, a production to which he will return before long in New York. (He will also be seen on his home patch next season as Albin in all-Black revival of La Cage aux Folles.)

But the multi-hyphenate performer has in fact chosen to make his London stage directing debut, and not with a flashy title like La Cage. Instead, he has alighted upon an intense, edgy, somewhat overwrought two-hander by the Kansas-born dramatist Harrison David Rivers, This Bitter Earth, first seen locally in a 2023 production at the White Bear in Kennington.

The play refracts a dynamic, often difficult interracial gay relationship set against turbulent times. The late Chicago poet-activist Essex Hemphill is quoted early on urging us to “take care of your blessings”. That is sound advice at a time when violence is in the air, whether in the shootings of Trayvon Martin and the Black congregants of a South Carolina church or closer to home, as the couple discover to their grievous cost. Trump (never mentioned by name) is on the horizon, so further tidings portend ill.

The lens through which this fractured society comes under the microscope is the partnering of Neil (Emmerdale alum Alexander Lincoln) and Jesse (2022 Olivier nominee Omari Douglas, well-known on TV from It's A Sin). Jesse has corralled Neil on Facebook and landed a date, which in turn leads to quite the roller coaster of a relationship.

Neil comes from money (a Brooklyn Heights brownstone, to be precise), a fact he is quick to play down, and is avowedly political, which Jesse, a budding playwright, dismisses as white liberal guilt. Quick to anger, Jesse questions why Neil didn’t alert his parents to the fact that Jesse is Black before bringing him over for dinner, and both men are seen making substantial life choices for the other.

They fall readily into one another’s arms, and take delight in kissing ostentatiously on the Tube while on a visit to London, but the couple are also easily triggered – Jesse especially. Indeed, for all the charm and intelligence of the character, both beautifully conveyed by the ever-excellent Douglas, you rather wonder after a while why Neil stays with someone who seems ready to ignite at the slightest provocation.

Rivers, the author, deftly fuses the personal and the political, and the actors are nicely matched. The appealing Lincoln’s comparative lack of stage experience is actually of use in his performance as the rather more hesitant, if always-likeable, Neil, who has found himself a firebrand for a partner.

Abetted by Lee Curran’s quicksilver lighting design and Julian Starr’s busy soundscape, Porter’s direction exists on the front foot throughout. Douglas appears in a side aisle at the start to tell us to turn off our phones, and the house lights come up as needed, at one point allowing the performers to climb across one row or another; elsewhere, we’re encouraged to give a collective yell.

The motif of fractured glass casts a sideways glance at one of the signature moments in Cabaret, and Rivers fascinatingly charts the unexpected results of a white man who is more engaged in the Black cause than his own Black partner. At times, you wish for a bit of quiet – of respite amidst the psychic storm. Less might in this instance be more, but no matter: as instructed, you emerge counting your blessings, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

This Bitter Earth is at the Soho Theatre to 26 July. Book This Bitter Earth tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

Photo credit: This Bitter Earth (Photos by Tristram Kenton)