The industry reading of Harrison David Rivers’s play will take place on the main stage at the Soho Theatre today (1st November).
Rehearsal images have now been released for This Bitter Earth by Harrison David Rivers, which will have an industry reading in London today, with plans for a full production in the works to be directed by Billy Porter (the Grammy Award, Emmy and two-time Tony winning actor, singer, director, composer and playwright).
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. But as the months pass and Neill 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.
This reading of the play stars: Emmanuel Imani (Geek Girl, Netflix, The Wheel of Time, Amazon Studios) and Alexander Lincoln (Geek Girl, Netflix, feature film In From the Side – longlisted Best Breakthrough Performance – and Everything I Know About Love, BBC1).
It is also the first development project by Thomas Hopkins’ independently owned company, Thomas Hopkins Productions. The company will focus on producing work in the same vein as his successful West End revival of Martin Sherman’s Rose, starring Maureen Lipman, and Simon Stephen’s Song From Far Away, staring Will Young, at Hampstead Theatre.
Billy Porter said today: “Harrison David Rivers has written a searingly poingant and necessary play about love and loss through the lens of the fraying American Democratic experiment. Simple. Complex. Direct and filled with compassion all at once. I’m thrilled to be a part of bringing this very special piece to life.”
Harrison David Rivers is an award-winning playwright, librettist and TV writer. His previous work includes: The Bandaged Place, This Bitter Earth and the musicals Five Points (with Douglas Lyons and Ethan Pakchar), We Shall Someday (with Ted Shen) and I Put a Spell on You (with Nubya Garcia). His TV credits include One of Us Is Lying, The Nevers and Wytches.