Check out the latest photos and videos of This Bitter Earth at Soho Theatre in London, starring Omari Douglas and Alexander Lincoln and directed by Billy Porter.

Written by Harrison David Rivers, This Bitter Earth is directed by award winner Billy Porter, and is now playing at Soho Theatre until 26 July 2025.

Billy Porter is making his UK directing debut with the play, which is an intimate, romantic and gripping play about a young black writer and his white activist lover.

This Bitter Earth stars Omari Douglas (It’s a Sin, Constellations, Cabaret, A Little Life) as Jesse and Alexander Lincoln (In From the Side, Emmerdale, Everything I Know About Love) as Neil.

Just in: See brand new production photos of This Bitter Earth.

Photos: This Bitter Earth at Soho Theatre

The show’s understudies are Stanton Plummer-Cambridge (F**king Men, The Durrells) and Luke Striffler (Hairspray, Avenue Q).

Joining Billy Porter in the creative team are: Set and costume design by Morgan Large, original composition by Sean Green, sound design by Julian Starr, casting by Rob Kelly, production management by Toby Darvill, Company Stage Manager Elsie O’Rourke, and Deputy Stage Manager Jordan Deegan-Fleet.

Photos: Meet the cast and director of This Bitter Earth

At the Million Hoodie March in 2012, Jesse, a young black man, encounters Neil, a young white man who has unwittingly found himself at the front of the crowd with a megaphone in his hand. Flash forward several weeks, and Jesse and Neil have begun dating. However, as the months pass and Neil works his way further into the world of activism, Jesse never enters it. Over the years, Jesse and Neil negotiate the complex “firsts” of their relationship against a backdrop of political demonstrations and discord. With history unfolding around them every day, Jesse and Neil must contend with the fact that, no matter their response to social turmoil, they cannot remain untouched by it.

Harrison David Rivers is an award-winning playwright, librettist and TV writer based in the US. His credits also include The Bandaged Place, and musicals Five Points, We Shall Someday and I Put a Spell on You. His TV credits include One of Us Is Lying, The Nevers and Wytches.

Grammy, Emmy and three-time Tony Award winner Billy Porter recently starred as The Emcee in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club in London, alongside Marisha Wallace as Sally Bowles. The pair will take their performances to Broadway next month, in the New York production of the show.

The show is produced by Thomas Hopkins (Rose, Songs From Far Away); Jana Robbins, Craig Haffner & Sherry Wright; Alex Deacon, Jonathan Kaldor & Kohl Beck; in association with John Rogerson and Sarig Peker.

This Bitter Earth is now playing at Soho Theatre, booking to 26 July 2025.

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Main photo: This Bitter Earth. Omari Douglas and Alexander Lincoln. Photo by Tristram Kenton

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