THE MOTH

About the show

A chance meeting on a train between John, a Black British journalist, and Marius, a White South African ex-soldier, sets in motion an escalating chain of events that reshapes their lives over the next thirty years – as John withholds forgiveness and Marius becomes increasingly obsessed with seeking it. Finally, before the nation's television cameras, they face each other to confront the past and lay bare their conflicting truths.Inspired by a true story, The Moth is a gripping new play that speaks directly to our times – a psychological thriller of memory, race, war, trauma, the legacy of Apartheid and the limits of forgiveness… Originally developed from a ten-minute video monologue which has since had over 30,000 views, it was selected for 26 festivals across the world, winning the Kwanzaa Film Festival Best Monologue Award in New York City. The stage version took the North by storm on tour in 2025, playing to packed houses at venues including Live Theatre Newcastle, the Lowry Salford and Shakespeare North in Liverpool, it received rave reviews, and won actor Micky Cochrane the award for Best Performance at the North-East Culture Theatre Awards for his portrayal of Marius. The Moth includes a brief cameo by Bridgerton star, Adjoa Andoh as the voice of John Josana’s mother, Joy. Playwright Paul Herzberg drew on his South African background and forced conscription into the army during the Angolan Border War, leaving the country thereafter. His lived experience of Apartheid and its reverberations to the present day drive the narrative. “The Moth looks at racism through the eyes of two men in the present, who are forced to confront their troubled past after a chance encounter. It explores the nature of forgiveness: What it really is; Who has the right to confer it; Whether it has any meaning in the context of human progress.”