Paul Herzberg’s THE MOTH opens on Northern Tour to rave reviews

THE MOTH, a new play by Paul Herzberg, has received its world premiere on a tour of Northern England to exceptional reviews. Based on a true story, told in the long shadow of South Africa’s Apartheid regime and the horrors of the Angolan Border War, THE MOTH is a timely and essential thriller that confronts our attitude towards race, war, the legacy of history, the power of our actions, the quest for redemption and the limits of forgiveness, bringing these themes right into the present day.

The play stars Faz Singhateh and Mickey Cochrane, and features the voice of BRIDGERTON star Adjoa Andoh. The director is Jake Murray, and the play is produced by Jake Murray, Hannah Ellis Ryan and Andy Jordan for Elysium Theatre Company. The show’s current 25-stop tour of the North of England, will culminate at Greater Manchester’s iconic venue The Lowry on 12 April.

‘Paul Herzberg has crafted a piece of theatre which is as much about personal reckoning as it is historical accountability – the result being a harrowing yet beautifully deep human piece of theatre’ wrote The Palatinate in a five-star review from the Gala Theatre in Durham. ‘Herzberg has created something that is simultaneously deeply personal and overwhelmingly universal. This is theatre at its most powerful, most harrowing, and importantly – at its most necessary.’

Chi Onwurah, MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West, called the play ‘inspiring’ and powerful’ following its two nights at The Live Theatre, Newcastle; Northern Arts Review said that ‘A sure sign of a remarkable and powerful play is that it stays with you, long after the curtain call. Like the moth, this play will linger and flutter in your mind’, while North East Theatre Guide added that the play was ‘thoroughly worthwhile…  A production that leaves the audience with plenty of food for thought.’

‘I am moved and encouraged by the remarkably positive response we are having on the tour – audiences and reviewers seem to be engaging deeply with the play and its themes,’ said Paul in response to the play’s opening weeks. ‘It is so exciting to see a highly intelligent, thought-provoking new play engage, move and thrill audiences across the country,’ added producer Andy Jordan.

Paul has also written about the play, and his own experiences as a conscripted soldier in the Angolan Border War, for the Anti-Apartheid Legacy. A list of the upcoming tour dates, and links to buy tickets, can be found below. The script of the play is published by Methuen, and available now.

About THE MOTH

“You think you know me. You don’t. So it’s time to talk.”

1997: a chance meeting on a train between two men, John, a black British activist and journalist and Marius, a white South African ex-soldier, sets in motion a chain of events that will change their lives forever.

2025: the two men gather to share their story…

Upcoming Tour Dates

Wednesday 26 March: The Witham, Barnard Castle (post-show Q&A with director and cast)

Thursday 27 March: East Stanley Working Man’s Club, Stanley

Friday 28 – Saturday 29 March: Alnwick Playhouse

Tuesday 1 April: Harrogate Theatre

Wednesday 2 April: Hull Truck, Hull

Thursday 3 April: Stokesley Community Library

Friday 4 April: Bishop Auckland Town Hall

Saturday 5 April: Newton-le-Willows Village Hall

Tuesday 8 April: The Athenaeum, Sunderland

Wednesday 9 April: The Friarage Theatre, Yarm

Thursday 10 – Saturday 12 April: The Lowry, Salford (11th April: post-show Q&A with director and cast)

About Paul Herzberg

Paul cut his teeth as an actor at South Africa’s first multiracial theatre, The Space. He left for the UK in 1976 following conscription into the Angolan border war, a time he’s drawn on for THE SONG OF MY FATHER (BBC Radio 4), SWEET LIKE SUGA (Old Red Lion & Centaur Montreal), his award-winning play, THE DEAD WAIT, and THE MOTH. Paul completed a post-graduate diploma at LAMDA and began working as an actor and writer in the UK in 1978.

His work as a writer encompasses theatre, radio, TV and film with several nominations and awards. THE DEAD WAIT was produced at the Market Theatre, Royal Exchange and Park Theatre and was adapted for BBC Radio 4, ABC Australia, and WDR Germany. The play was shortlisted for The Verity Bargate Award and nominated for three Manchester Evening News Awards: best play, production and actor — in which category it won. In 2000 Paul was one of two writers commissioned for The Metropolis Kabarett at The National Theatre.

His screenplay ANNA’S STORY won a place on the Brit List in 2018.

Visit Paul Herzberg’s website

Follow Paul on Instagram

Playwright Tuyen Do’s debut novel SUMMER ROLLS pre-empted by Trapeze Books

Cover artwork by Manshen Lo

SUMMER ROLLS, the debut novel by Tuyền Đỗ, has been pre-empted by Trapeze Books and will be published on 24 April 2025. The novel, adapted from Tuyền’s play which premiered at London’s Park Theatre in 2019, is a multigenerational story set between the UK and Vietnam, exploring family, identity, love and memory through the lives and relationship of Vietnamese immigrant Trinh and her British-raised daughter Mai. World rights in all languages (excluding US) were acquired by former editor Zoe Yang from Juliet Pickering, with Editorial Director Sareeta Domingo publishing SUMMER ROLLS latterly.

Inspired by Tuyền’s own family history, SUMMER ROLLS tells the parallel stories of both teenage Mai, growing up in 1990s London, and her mother Trinh as she comes of age in 1950 and 60s Vietnam, and explores how the traumas of one generation are mapped onto the lives of the next, and the enduring effects of conflict both domestic and global, personal and public. You can read more about Tuyền’s experience telling this story in this BBC feature interview from the play’s production in June 2019.

‘I am very excited to bring the story of SUMMER ROLLS to a wider audience, together with Trapeze, this conversation-starting publisher,’ said Tuyền. ‘I hope this book will do just that – opening channels of communication between the generations who read it. My aspirations for this still-hidden female story is that it will be illuminating, healing, and a celebration of that very special bond between a daughter and her mother.’

Sareeta Domingo added: ‘Tuyền has crafted an exceptional debut novel, telling a vital story about the complexities of being a second-generation immigrant in Britain today, as well as the impact that crossing an ocean to escape conflict can have on a family. It’s about the challenges of assimilation, culture and personal evolution—but most of all, Tuyền has beautifully captured the utterly relatable nuances of a mother-daughter relationship. I’m excited to be able to publish her work.’

‘Tuyền’s voice – both in her playwriting and her novel – is so striking, resonant and empathic; I loved Summer Rolls from the first page,’ Juliet Pickering said. ‘This is a timely, relatable and deeply moving book from a brilliantly talented debut author, and no one who reads Mai and Trinh’s story will forget it.’

Mai is navigating life in 90s London as a first-generation British Vietnamese teenager, caught between two cultures. Her mother, Trinh, is constantly reminding her to work hard and be grateful.

But Trinh was young once too, living a vibrant and complicated life in Vietnam until forced to flee her war-torn home. Now her focus is the son she thought she'd lost, and the daughter she desperately wants to protect. She tries to forget the memories buried in the rubble of the life she left behind. Moving into young adulthood, Mai begins to follow her calling as a photographer, and falls in knotty but passionate love despite her mother's warnings about boys. When secrets from the past finally resurface, the family's bonds are truly shaken. But if Trinh and Mai can overcome their differences and stand together, then maybe there could be hope for a better, brighter future...

An epic, heartwarming novel that explores love, the meaning of freedom and the importance of family, for fans of PACHINKO and ON EARTH WE'RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS.

Available to pre-order now!

Photo: Gavin Li

About Tuyền Đỗ

Tuyền Đỗ is a British Vietnamese writer and actor. She has been part of the Royal Court’s studio writing group, Tamasha Playwrights, and Bristol Old Vic’s open session writers’ programme. Much of her creative work stems from her East Asian heritage.

Praise for the novel SUMMER ROLLS

‘SUMMER ROLLS is a poignant exploration of intergenerational trauma and its impact on familial bonds, thoughtfully illuminating the Vietnamese refugee crisis of the 70s and 80s. With nuance and compassion, it examines the delicate balance between independence and empathy, leaving a lasting impression of the quiet resilience often embodied by mothers.’ – Warona Jay, author of THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS

Praise for the play SUMMER ROLLS

‘An intimate domestic drama, sketched with compassion and steely honesty.’ – The Guardian

‘Glows with the colour and depth of its characters. Đỗ reveals herself as a sophisticated and empathetic chronicler of people, personality and pain... her scenes are rich, well-rounded and believable... a beautiful, honest, heartfelt portrayal of the British Vietnamese diaspora.’ – The Stage

‘Like a collection of individually captured moments in one huge family album... there are also real moments of tenderness... a realistic and accurate reflection of how memory often works in fragments and flashbacks.’ – Time Out London

Visit Tuyền’s website here

Follow Tuyền on Instagram

Gregory Evans’ SHIRLEYMANDER rehearsed reading at the Playground Theatre

A rehearsed reading of SHIRLEYMANDER by Gregory Evans is taking place at the brand new Playground Theatre this Thursday 30th November, ahead of a full run planned for May 2018.

The play was previously adapted for radio to critical acclaim ‘a vividly impressionistic play… brutally comic, unexpectedly sad.' Daily Telegraph, 'An atmosphere of poisonous paranoia ... Excellent fun.' The Times, broadcast on Radio 4, with esteemed actress Tracy-Ann Oberman playing the lead. This is the first time the play will be performed on stage as it was originally conceived, and Tracy will be reprising her lead role. The reading will also feature Patrick Ryecart and Michael Simkins.  

SHIRLEYMANDER tells the story of Dame Shirley Porter, leader of Westminster Council from 1983 to 1991. Bullying, autocratic, possessing boundless energy and vast wealth yet riddled with insecurities, Porter turned the Conservative flagship borough into a mire of paranoia, fear and skullduggery, as she pursued secret, illegal policies that destroyed communities, reputations, lives hopes… and finally herself.

The play’s venue, the brand new Playground Theatre, has special significance in regards to SHIRLEYMANDER’s subject matter, as it is a stone’s throw from Grenfell Tower, drawing parallels on how past and present governments have played a role in social housing crises. It is these similarities that have led the Playground Theatre’s co-artistic director Anthony Biggs to select the play as its first production.

You can find The Observer’s article on the upcoming production here.

You can follow Gregory on Twitter here.