This Bitter Earth review

Harrison David Rivers’ play, first performed at San Francisco’s New Conservatory Theatre Center in 2017, charts the relationship between interracial gay couple Jesse and Neil through a non-linear sequence of scenes set between the time of Obama’s re-election in 2012 and Trump’s rise to power in 2015. Yet no politicians are mentioned by name. Instead, the timeline is marked by grief for Black victims of police violence.

Rivers, like his protagonist Jesse, is a gay Black playwright from Kansas living in Minnesota, who attended Columbia University. His drama, the title of which refers to a song by jazz singer Dinah Washington, provides an intimate and poignant glimpse into a loving relationship strained by institutional violence, and asks: what is the most effective way to take a stand?

The couple meet at a rally in New York City when Neil finds himself with a megaphone, and recites a poem by the gay African-American poet Essex Hemphill – Jesse’s favourite writer. Although Jesse is initially annoyed by this act of cultural appropriation, the encounter culminates in a meet-cute over the shared niche literary reference. Neil, in possession of a large trust fund, assuages his white guilt through protesting and volunteering. Jesse, on the other hand, prefers to keep a low profile – his lip curls at the term “activist”, and he would rather let his writing speak for itself.

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