PLAY REVIEW: The Moth ★★★
Inspired by a true story, Paul Herzberg’s The Moth details a story that refuses to let history rest. As a psychological drama, the production examines how a single encounter can fester across decades, with its protagonists being forced to confront a battle between personal responsibility and the desire for redemption. In 1997, John Josana (Faz Singhateh), a Black British journalist and activist, encounters Marius Muller (Micky Cochrane), a white South African former soldier, on a train. Their meeting sets in motion a relationship shaped by racial injustice, wartime trauma and the consequences of apartheid, even if maybe the video design that sits nicely between the pair doesn’t exactly mirror the year that the play is set, with modern vehicles very much prominent in the design. Singhateh brings John a sense of composure, which simmers beneath the wounds of his rough upbringing, while Cochrane gives Marius a mixture of fragility and desperation, with neither performance seeking ea...
