JADAR

★★★★☆

The award-winning Elysium Theatre Company has landed in Manchester with its production of The Moth. Written by Paul Herzberg, this brand-new play is an impressive testament to forgiveness, a reckoning of history and an undeniably captivating drama.

The show is more potent than ever, questioning how we find similarity in all walks of life. The themes are overbearingly large and rely on a steady cast and crew to deliver. I was impressed by the consistent standard of delivery presented by the company. This new piece of writing is brilliant in its concept. It was an absolute delight to attend a show with utter creative brilliance in its script writing.

The two-act show follows John Josana, played by Faz Singhateh, an established journalist with a compassionate drive and his various interactions with Marius Miller, played by Micky Cochrane. Josana and Miller, as characters, have a conflicting relationship to their one similarity: their connection to South Africa.

The brilliance, for me, was in the symbols of the narrative and almost poetic nature to realistic storytelling. The script is deeply human – drawing lines between religion and spirituality, activism and expectation, and nature and nurture.

The moth, as a symbol used throughout the piece, was brilliant. After Miller confessed to the murder of a war prisoner, suggesting he “put him out of his misery,” he saw a moth. In folklore and modern myth, the moth symbolises a soul returning to the afterlife. On the other hand, the moth fearlessly will fly into fire, similar to the foolish bravery shown on stage through the recounting of the stories told. Josana speaks multiple times on the difference in honesty. One might be honest, but the devil delivers his version of the truth. This discussion surrounding race was raw and powerful. It is an important play that reminded me of my ignorance. This is what art can do.

Singhateh and Cochrane were brilliant performers. Faz Singhateh played his moments as a conference host and as an unwilling bystander to Miller’s mental health fluctuations almost flawlessly. Singhateh has a diction and cadence that truly moved me and had me hanging onto his every word.

Micky Cochrane also gave an undeniably great performance, acting as a stiff and unstable ex-South African soldier. His performance was subtle and emotional, completely contrasting Singhateh. Their tone remained quite similar throughout the piece, never finding friendship but instead profound intimacy in the fleeting nature of their relationship. I was impressed how realistic this dynamic felt–both performers delivering an uncomfortable but deeply intense relationship, somehow cosmically intertwined.

Fortunately for me, this is a piece that demands consumption on multiple levels: both textually and during a live performance. Herzberg’s depth in writing was impressive and I believe only slight adjustments to the script would push this performance further. Having viewed the original monologue in Elysium Theatre’s Covid-19 Monologues, I felt like the story was summarised excellently and the symbolism of the moth was subtle, beautiful and well written.

Adapting this piece into a two-act show took dedication to the development of both characters. For me, this worked well through the intertwining of monologues presented by two men. I believe there was a timid-ness between showing and telling the audience. I believe some moments could have been shown to us, acted out on stage as a powerful duo as opposed to strictly monologue work.

The larger narrative was thought-out and created two excellent characters, but I believe some altering to define the arcs of both characters would elevate the piece. Similarly, in the original piece, the conversation that inspired Josana’s work is clever in its summary, during this rendition the outcome of their conversation felt more all over the place with an intensity I did not see in the original piece. I was curious how the light-heartedness would come about between the two, truly defining the tie between all humanity but was surprised to see only tension between them.

One highlight of the piece was when Marius grabs the hand of John who is about to kill a fly. He looks him in his face and says, “it is just a tiny soul trying to find god.” The use of bugs as the catalyst of change for this narrative was empowering. This script can be analysed in hundreds of different ways, making it seem like a once in a generation piece of writing.  The transitions were the weaker moments of this production, stunting portions of the play both through the emotional transition and physical placements.

This was a play that largely had me at the edge of my seat but so many moments were cut loose by the immediate change into the next moment either by the performers moving the set or shortening a moment. In particular, when Marius points a gun at his head and John slowly talks him out of it, the moment could have been held (in silence) for 15 seconds, instead, it was half a second before John brought us back to the present. Holding out these moments of transitions between emotions allows for the audience to feel the weight with the performers, which was unfortunately cut short.

However, a review where I am asking for a longer piece is a brilliant sign. These moments of intensity needed stronger directional choices to dictate an audience response as it led to a large portion of the show to feel almost one tone.

The only other faults present, to me, were to do with the suspension of disbelief in small ways. Some of the visuals, displayed via screen at the back of the stage, were inaccurate, the “fresh” beer was already half-used, and a slight fade in and out of accent and diction pulled audiences out of the moment. The critique of these small moments, in my opinion, is an excellent sign of a drama, as these were the only issues I saw present. I believe the piece could be elevated in its design and visual direction, ensuring each prop and media is accurate in its mimicking of reality.

With the markings for a memorable piece, The Moth is an evocative show that will linger with audiences.