REVIEW: THE MOTH @ FINBOROUGH THEATRE

🎭 The Moth

📍 Finborough Theatre, 118 Finborough Road, West Brompton, London, SW10 9ED

🗓 Thursday 29th October 2026

⭐️ 2 Stars

LEAVES ON THE TRACK

It’s been a while since I last climbed those familiar stairs at the Finborough Theatre, and honestly, I was really looking forward to being back there last night.

There is something uniquely thrilling about this intimate, 50-seat room when a piece of theatre gets it right. The setup here felt ripe for a gripping night. A tense, three-decade-spanning political drama tracking a chance train encounter between John, a Black British activist and journalist, and Marius, a white South African ex-soldier. It promised a deep, claustrophobic dive into the heavy scars of war, race, trauma, and the agonisingly complex limits of Apartheid-era forgiveness.

But stretching THE MOTH - which began life as a ten-minute monologue - into a two-hour play has completely drained the life from it. What used to be a taut, razor-sharp monologue now feels like a tedious, bogged-down lecture that spends far too much time telling us how to feel instead of just letting the drama breathe.

The real issue is that Paul Herzberg’s writing has become completely swamped by a barrier of verbosity. It’s just so incredibly preachy, and regular readers of mine will know how much I absolutely hate it when a piece of theatre is nothing more than a lecture in disguise - and that is exactly what I was subjected to here.

Instead of two broken men authentically clashing over raw, human trauma, we are forced to sit through character mouthpieces delivering massive, clunky chunks of historical exposition. It is the ultimate theatrical sin of "telling, not showing", and because of that, I was very quickly disengaged. Once a show loses me like that, it’s a massive uphill battle to win me back, and this one never did. It's a word I hate to use in any review, but I was extremely bored throughout. I don't want to be spoken to like I'm a child, because when this happens my brain just shuts off.

Structurally, it’s a bit of a mess too. The back-and-forth framing device - constantly switching between a train carriage and a TV studio or lecture hall (I wasn't quite sure which) - feels clunky, repetitive, and totally kills any natural momentum the story tries to build. Then you have the design choices.

Look, I know this is fringe theatre, and I always adjust my expectations for a fringe budget, but some choices just pull you right out of the illusion. Using a standard office desk and rolling chairs to represent train seating just didn't work for me at all. Combined with some seriously low-budget, distracting multimedia screen transitions, the whole aesthetic felt painfully low-tech in a way that shattered any remaining atmosphere. Occasionally there was some German dialogue in the piece, and when this happened, subtitles appeared on the screen. The issue with this was that with the actors standing in front of the screen, I couldn't read them!

Unfortunately, the performances didn't do much to salvage the evening, lacking both the emotional depth and clear intent needed to elevate the text. To be fair, this isn’t necessarily the fault of the actors themselves. It’s likely a lethal combination of poor writing and rigid direction. You could see the thought and direction in every movement, meaning everything just felt stiff and unnatural. I genuinely wanted to be brought in by the performances, to feel the stakes of this confrontation, but I simply felt nothing. Micky Cochrane did manage a pretty solid, authentic South African accent, but it was incredibly broad, and his diction frequently suffered whenever the dialogue forced him to speak quickly.

It’s always a shame when an exceptional premise gets smothered by its own ambition. There is a lean, mean, brilliant story buried somewhere deep inside THE MOTH, but this bloated adaptation just isn't it.

Sadly, the expansion of Herzberg’s pandemic monologue into a full-length studio piece is a classic case of more meaning much, much less.

Although I wouldn't personally recommend this piece, if you want to check it out for yourself then performances continue at Finborough Theatre until Saturday 21st November. CLICK HERE for more information and to book tickets.

Neill Kovacic-Clarke

All views are my own and I pride myself on being honest, fair and free from influence. Theatre is subjective and it is important to remember that all views expressed are just those of one person.

My ticket for this performance of The Moth was gifted by Nancy Poole PR, who invited me to watch the show in exchange for my honest review. The fact that my ticket was gifted played no part in the content of my review or the star rating given.

CAST:

Faz Singhateh as John Josana; Marius Muller as Micky Cochrane; Adjoa Andoh as John's mother (voice)

CREATIVES:

Writer - Paul Herzberg; Director - Jake Murray; Set Designer - Amelia Mitchell; Lighting Designer - Simon Cole; Sound and Music - Paul C Clark; Video and Film - Paul C Clark and Amelia Mitchell; Producer - Andy Jordan; Production Manager - Chris Corner; Assistant Producer - Amie Brian

RUNNING TIME (approx):

2 hours, including interval

CONTENT WARNINGS:

Bad language; Themes of military trauma, war crimes, and the aftermath of PTSD; Accounts and depictions of interpersonal violence, captivity, and execution tied to the Angolan Border War and the Apartheid era; The narrative directly confronts the legacy of racism, hate speech, and institutional exclusion

AGE GUIDELINE:

14+

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