This Bitter Earth: Billy Porter reveals all about his West End directorial debut (EXCLUSIVE)

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On a close June afternoon in southeast London, Attitude steps into a sparse, fluorescent-lit rehearsal space: four chairs placed in its centre, a refreshments table in dire need of replenishment in from the side, and the constant thrumming of an aged air conditioning unit dominating the room. This is an 'in-between' space, a space charged with the relentless emotional heavy-lifting of four people busy at work, building something raw and powerful.It is here that Billy Porter's West End directorial debut is being constructed. This Bitter Earth, written by Harrison David Rivers, is a searing exploration of love, race and identity through the story of an interracial gay couple, Jesse (Omari Douglas), a Black playwright, and Neil (Alexander Lincoln), a white activist.
'It's nice to know… even when I haven't been in the director's chair for a long time, I still got it,' smiles Porter. The play may mark his debut on the London stage, but Porter is no novice when it comes to directing. 'The problem solving is my favourite part. The creation of something, from the page to the stage.' Porter contrasts the director's chair with having recently finished a stint as The Emcee, in Cabaret. 'I had an amazing time… it's also eight shows a week. It's more than an ocean, we are athletes. There's nothing outside of doing that, when that is happening, so you gotta really want to be doing it, and I really love Cabaret.'
A world away from the glamour of the Kit Kat Club, our conversation halts briefly as we put the air conditioning unit out of its misery. 'The Brits are so quiet', Porter jokes, referencing this writer's own voice projection. When Billy Porter offers feedback, you act on it.With throats cleared, conversation turns to the sanctity and emotional balm that the theatre has long provided for the LGBTQ+ community. Writer Harrison David Rivers reflects on the gift that theatre has offered him over the years. 'The theatre has always been a kind of church for me. It's always been a sacred space,' he says. 'When I write a play, it's a blueprint for whomever decides to engage with it… I want them to feel all the things that the characters feel, to leave having experienced something. Leave lighter, and/or encouraged, and/or empowered, raring to go, to change something, to tear something down.'
Rivers has a definite idea of his ideal target audience – or mindset – of who he wants to be impacted by This Bitter Earth: everyone. Full stop. 'I want all. I want everybody. I think this story is for everyone.'
Actor Alexander Lincoln – known for roles in rugby drama In From the Side and Emmerdale – reflects with disarming honesty. 'I mean, I come from Surrey… Growing up, there wasn't a lot of diversity, and I think that as open minded as a lot of people are that I grew up with – we, they, all of us – don't discuss the topics of this play as much as I think we should'.Lincoln also highlights the vulnerability at the heart of his performance. 'There's a lot of white guilt that stops a lot of people engaging in the discussion and the discourse. Billy and Harrison have allowed us to talk, and really get into the basis of what is being said. I think that's been a really beautiful aspect of the rehearsal process.'
On his character Jesse, Omari Douglas says he's simply trying to make sense of his existence – while also being a Black gay person in America. 'He's making sense of stuff and he's trying to survive.' Douglas goes on to acknowledge that the African American experience is not his own, yet the existence of intersectionality and 'the justification that you have to make for yourself, time and time again' is something that is entirely familiar. 'The play is just truth, through and through.'
In thinking of a single image or scene that might stay with an audience long after watching This Bitter Earth, Porter reflects emotionally on the characters' arcs. 'It's a very simple image. It's just sitting at the foot of the stage…' Porter takes a long pause as the scene flashes before him. 'Even those of us who sort of revel in this idea that we're fine alone, that we're independent… that we can do it by ourselves… to have the courage to be vulnerable enough to say, 'I can't do this by myself. And I don't want to actually'. That, for me, is the transformational nature of this story'.As we wrap our interview, a silence lingers. The air shifts, and the room slowly exhales. The spell cast by these four artists in their rehearsal space – thick with honesty and heat – is potent. On stage, in the intimate walls of Soho Theatre, you'll feel it. Deeply. And then some.
This Bitter Earth is at Soho Theatre on 18–26 July 2025.
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