Review: THE MOTH STORYSLAM, Southbank Centre

The Moth Radio Hour has gloriously grown in success from its 2009 iteration and is now well known for its incredibly engaging podcast and live shows. The Moth’s GrandSLAM Championship at Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre brought together 10 regional show winners to compete in a themed show, the mission of which was a story about missing a bullet.

The Moth is rich in its masterful community building and amplification of relatable stories, with a touch of the extraordinary to enhance human connection.

Hosted comedically by the riotous Sara Barron, the night was filled with hilarious musings, supported by the intense talent of Kit Massey, layering the show with atmospheric violin performances and handy timekeeping. The evening balanced a spectrum of humour, heartbreak, vulnerability and triumph. Every storyteller brought something raw, distinct and memorable, showing why The Moth has become such a phenomenon in live storytelling.

Each of the 10 tellers has their individual opportunity to perform on the theme, withbold and lively accounts set to 5 minutes, with the off stage judges in charge of the outcome.

Aween Abubaker:
Aween told a moving story about the impact of the two bicycles shes had use of in her life. Describing the first bike as belonging to her brother, which lived on the roof of her home, but her strict culture meant that women riding bicycles was severely frowned upon and therefore by the time she’d learned how to ride the bicycle by determined self learning, her family were only able to be as bold as to allow her to ride the bicycle on the street directly outside her home, limited to cycling from one end of the street to the other. However, a sour neighbour in their 70s always looked at her with disapproval and instilled a level of shame, which she recognised she should never have had to endure. Even the short journey was a victory, but painfully short lived. The freedom was limited as the rules in the society became stricter and she was not allowed to continue to ride the bicycle due to the dissatisfaction of the neighbours. Fast forward to her adult life in a liberal country a second bicycle came into her life. This second bicycle allowed the expression the joy, of being allowed to cross the end of the street and the relief that no watchful eyes looked upon her with disapproval. It would be eight more years until a feeling of greater freedom, challenging in the carefree spirit of the bicycle could reign true. Aween is the type of storyteller who gives a masterclass in personal history, emotive writing and engaging delivery.

Avi Azouz:
Avi explored the corporate toxic work environment, whilst drowning in unmeasured overtime hours, with consequences of jeopardising personal relationships and strain of the lack of appreciation when pouring his soul into the business. His story marked the victory of drawing a line under the exhaustion and ensuring he works within boundaries.

Go Lock Chung
Go told his story of a Univer challenge hitchhike task from Oxford to Morocco, with a side mission to impress a girl. The expedition rules stated that participants were allowed to buy ferry tickets, but otherwise only rely on the kindness of strangers to journey from the UK via France to Morocco. Go explained the myriad of emotions around fragile masculinity, high anxiety fear and overcoming those fears. Go wove the theme of near misses throughout his tale, by definitely dodging a bullet in terms of the potential romantic relationships but was annoyingly and victoriously the only student group to achieve the mission truthfully.

Rhian Cowburn:
Rhian is fascinated by ghosts and poltergeists and went as far as to move into a haunted house during her career in fashion with a friend she moved into a house of horrors that won’t beyond creepy and contained more secrets and terror than is justifiable. An excellent segment about being locked in the porch revealed further secrets and her description around being trapped felt very visceral. Rhian’s story was in my top two.

Ruby Curran:
Ruby’s story was my favourite, she decided to ‘break up’ with her full-time job, go freelance and switch careers to a person of leisure who walks along the common with her dog. Her inspection of the behaviour of birds, namely crows was exquisite in that we learned that crows can recognise their enemies, have the mental capacity of a seven-year-old and are smart enough to be worthy of their pack name ‘a murder of crows’. Ruby created the image of an adult Gothic Snow White Disney princess Aldi describing herself as the kind of witch you fear from a Hitchcock movie. an additional joy was the appearance of her giant stick which was a gift from the crows to thank their snack goddess for her endless generosity.

Pridcilla Leigh:
Priscilla told the story of her value system, her religion and self consciousness in the stark contrast of her reassurance in being true to her convictions and enjoying the deeper questions to work out what really matters for her. This story due a huge reaction from the audience who welcomed her honesty and ethics with awe.

Flemming Poulsen:
Flemming told his wondrous story of choosing to tell on untruth, but getting in over your head with your moral compass. His delivery was engaging, charming energised and a left an impression of celebrating one’s ethical and moral standing. Fleming is genuinely a true joy.

Simon Treadwell
Simon told his reflective story of an experience at 17, which shaped his future Simon did a wonderful job of reminding the audience that personal and Home life situations may not be appreciated but when away from home feel magnificent on his German exchange for six months. Life was turned on its head with a creeping sense of despair of the diet situation of living with a guest family of unusual Measures with the language barrier and a horrible job washing dishes. An excellent story of not expecting the grass to be greener.

Jessica Van der Veen
Jessica told her story about an opportunity to substitute a teacher at the actor studio. Has she thrived in guiding her students in Kriya Ting intimacy, intensity, chemistry and conflict, all resulting in an intoxicating and intense workplace. Her jealous coworkers made her feel small and inadequate her story. Took a turn to talk of one stranger who gave her back her power and helped her on her lucky streak to be reminded that her talent of helping others achieve is not to be hidden. with her head held high her career flourished.

Sally Wheatley
Sally regaled a story of worry and mistake creating an epic spectacle on a beach holiday, Sally has the ability of liability and engagingly drawing an audience  this was incredibly well told and amusing tale.

The beauty of The Moth GrandSLAM is that it transforms ordinary experiences into something extraordinary. Every storyteller left the audience reflecting on fear, courage, identity, resilience and humour. The atmosphere at the Southbank Centre was electric throughout and the audience reaction showed just how deeply these stories resonated. The Moth Grandslam
is a truly unforgettable and joyous experience.