by Harrison David Rivers

White Bear Theatre, London, 2023

UK PREMIERE
LONDON PUB THEATRE AND OFFIE AWARD NOMINATED

This Bitter Earth

✭✭✭✭ The Stage

“Intimate and poignant … There’s a real warmth of spirit here.”

✭✭✭✭✭ London Theatre reviews

“A masterpiece of theatre … Peter Cieply's direction was stunningly provided, using a relatively small space extremely creatively to keep the flow of the performance moving … Martin Edwards and Max Sterne are an absolute tour de force. Their onstage chemistry and breathtaking storytelling ability mesmerize the audience, creating some beautifully playful moments, whilst keeping the audience engaged in the more serious truths the play presents.”

✭✭✭✭✭ London Pub Theatres Magazine

“While the West End continues to struggle with getting audiences back, it’s the pub theatre sector that’s producing the thought-provoking-issue kind of plays these days. Brisk, efficient, intelligent, humane – One can only wish there were more plays like it.”  

✭✭✭✭ Queerguru

“The UK premiere of this short two-person piece in a small theatre would be such an easy play to miss. It’s too good to let that happen … Whilst the writing stands on its own, the delivery by Edwards and Sterne is impeccable … An enormously satisfying play on all levels.”

✭✭✭✭ Reviewsgate

“This moving and very well acted two hander directed by Peter Cieply getting its UK premiere is one not to miss. … Cieply directs with skill, exploiting the small space of the White Bear to perfection.”

✭✭✭✭ Londontheatre1

“Perfectly cast … Superb work. Director Peter Cieply and movement director Gareth Taylor make excellent use of Isabella Van Braeckel’s writer’s-study set … Jesse’s final scene is so full of emotion that I was wiping a tear from my eyes by the end.”  

This Bitter Earth Promo Trailer