By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

WHEN? Wednesday 18 June, opens 24 June and runs through 26 July 2025 RUNTIME: 90 minutes (no interval)

Harrison David Rivers’ 2017 play This Bitter Earth is about an interracial gay couple in the US and their different attitudes to and experiences of activism as they seek to overcome the racism and prejudice they face.

• Read on for reasons including how this UK directorial debut is rendered with much of the theatrical flair you might expect from a performance of Billy Porter’s

It’s occasionally funny not least because it is white middle class Neil, a doe-eyed and swarthy Alexander Lincoln, who is trying to encourage lower class writer Jesse, the chameleon-like Omari Douglas (Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew, Bush Theatre and TV’s It’s A Sin) to find his protest voice.

Billy Porter, who recently played the EmCee in Cabaret in the West End and transfers to Broadway this summer, greets fans on the street outside the venue (see picture below), introduces the show onstage beforehand for his UK directorial debut and says he hopes it will find its audience and run – and run.

The subject matter is serious and so it helps that the central relationship is so likeable because the storytelling is non-linear encompassing a meet cute, negotiating family and infidelity.

We’re in the front row and it’s such a pleasure to be so up close and personal with a pair who really make us believe in their unlikely relationship (see curtain picture below).

Lights advising ‘Take care of your blessings’ occasionally flash up above the stage to remind that, while the world contains much to protest against, we should never forget the joy of what we have and choose to surround ourselves with.

It’s impossible for us to watch it without thinking about all that has happened in US politics since 2017 and how 2025 looks much worse than a decade previously and perhaps that’s where the advice about valuing what you have now rings especially true.

But some may find the flip-flopping about the value of activism distracting.

Ultimately Porter’s UK directorial debut is rendered with much of the theatrical flair you might expect from a performance of his.

While the pair at the centre of the play invite us warmly into their relationship and give us much to ponder about what is wrong with the world and how much of it we should strive to change.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Soho Theatre Tickets
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