Theater Review: "This Bitter Earth" at TheaterWorks Hartford

Critics who could not attend the press night for the play “This Bitter Earth” at TheaterWorks Hartford were allowed to view the stream on one of the performances. I was glad that I was able to experience this production, via an excellent video, that my colleagues had seen in person. “This Bitter Earth” is the second production of the 2021-2022 Season.

When Harrison David Rivers was commissioned to write “The Bitter Earth” back in 2015, he was asked to address the issue of what it is like to move in the world in a black body during those times. Of course, in 2022 that same question is still being asked and answers remain hard to find. The play largely focuses on “the importance of the moments of love—large and small—between the moments of struggle.”

This play is described as a love story about two men finding each other and finding their voices in an extremely challenging time, and the ways in which their love changes them forever. Through love, Jesse feels safe and supported in exploring the ways that he is comfortable interacting with his blackness and his activism in a country that does its best to make him feel unworthy. Through love, Neil, Jesse’s white partner, is called to activism, becoming a passionate advocate for his partner’s life and for all Black lives.

Rivers stresses that the connections that bring us together are more important than ever in 2022. “The story of two men finding and loving each other in spite of the world’s coldness, then persevering in the face of tragedy and uncertainty, reminds us that life is the small moments of joy found within each other, even when the world tells us that what keeps us apart is most important.,” he writes in the virtual program.

The narrative is set between 2012 - 2015, a time with racial and political tension, and the Black Lives Matter movement. It is powerful interracial queer love story, but at times I felt that there were elements that could apply to any interracial human relationship. The play takes place in New York City and St. Paul, MN. It moves back and forth in time over the three years.

There are some poetic elements that intersect with the action, and some scenes are repeated throughout the performance, making it not exactly linear. I had my suspicions about how the story would culminate and the director David Mendizabal brings out “the poignancy of this work to reflect both the past and the current dilemmas we face as a society.”

Both roles in the play are portrayed by Equity actors and bring their characters to life with respect and authenticity.

Tom Holcomb makes his TheaterWorks Hartford debut as Neil. Holcomb has appeared Off-Broadway in “Meet Me In St Louis,” and “Ernest In Love at Irish Repertory Theatre and has regional and Television/Web credits. He was part of “This Bitter Earth" (TOSOS), "We Are Continuous" (Playwrights Center) and got his training at University of MN/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program.

Damian Thompson, is a classically trained stage, film, and television actor makes his TheaterWorks Hartford debut as Jesse. Born in Kingston, Jamaica and partly raised in Miami, FL, he now resides in New York City. Damian is a 2018 NAACP award winner for his performance in "Fly" at the Pasadena Playhouse in California His short film "BLACK?" (for which he wrote, produced, and co-starred in) won best film at the New York Premiere Film Festival, and was an official selection at numerous festivals including the International Black Film Festival, the Orlando Film Festival, and the Albuquerque Film Festival.

His work can be seen in the upcoming National Geographic special "Clotilda: The Last Slave Ship" and the upcoming Netflix feature "Wedding Season." He earned his BFA from the University of Evansville, and an MFA from the University of Delaware.

Rivers’ plays include “The Bandaged Place” (Relentless Award), “When Last We Flew” (GLAAD Award), Sweet (AUDELCO nom), “Where Storms Are Born,” and the musicals “Five Points with Douglas Lyons and Ethan Pakchar” (MN Theatre Award) and “Broadbend, Arkansas with Ellen
Fitzhugh and Ted Shen.” He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

THIS BITTER EARTH is now available to stream. Be prepared for some foul language, and intimacy scenes with partial nudity. "Watch this heartfelt story from home or come and watch it with us." https://sforce.co/3Acw35e