Review: Moses Storm: Perfect Cult

Moses Storm attempts to create the perfect cult in a show where stand-up comedy meets immersive theatre. Based on audience participation, his Fringe debut is inclusive, original, and captivating in a good way.

Storm grew up on a repurposed Greyhound bus, travelling the United States with his family to spread the beliefs of a doomsday cult. This is extraordinary in itself, and for somebody with no opportunity to socialise during their formative years, he’s surprisingly in tune with his fellow humans.

Far from making Perfect Cult all about himself, Storm invites the audience to create the show with him, giving free reign from the offset. Anything goes, including phones, as long as everyone’s comfortable. It could easily descend into chaos but there’s not one second of the hour that he’s not in charge of the room.

Storm makes subtle references to the wounds he’s learning to live with, but Perfect Cult is the opposite of trauma dumping. He’s here to spread light and joy, and while he openly accepts his own struggles, he also acknowledges everyone else’s.

Some of the audience interaction drags on a bit, possibly because Storm is so much more entertaining than anyone else. In a sense, he’s the personification of a successful cult leader – charming, magnetic, in charge – and at the end of the show it’s clear that the audience would, quite literally, follow him anywhere.