Cathy
★★★☆☆ Excellently performed
Traverse (Venue 15): Fri 7 – Sun 30 Aug 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson.
Cathy from the Traverse Theatre Company is a bleakly funny play that has an excellent central performance but struggles to convince entirely.
The play is written and directed by Eilidh Loan. Loan apparently based the play around her own grandmother, who gave permission for her story to be used as long as she could be played by Elaine C Smith.
Elaine C Smith. Pic: Mihaela Bodlovic.
It’s debatable whether most people would be flattered by being represented by a character like this; the newly-widowed Cathy speaks her mind and then some, giving instant voice to her smallest dissatisfactions and negative opinions without any thought given to tact or others’ feelings.
Unsurprisingly, this has caused problems in her family; daughter Flo (Michele Gallagher) has had just about enough, while son-in-law Colin (Alan Orr) is uncouth (and worse, a Protestant). Granddaughter Amy (Chloe Hodgson) is more indulged, but even then her pregnancy (and without having a man, too) is a sticking point.
expert timing
It’s easy to see that the role could have been written for Smith, who nails every disgusted one-liner with expert timing, with the character’s pious sureness, obsession with ‘taste’ and pathological hatred of Bradley Walsh beautifully expressed.
Smith is also excellent at showing the character’s sadness, with the loss of her beloved Tommy driving her into depression (although depression ‘isn’t even a thing’).
Chloe Hodgson, Alan Orr, Elaine C Smith and Michele Gallagh. Pic: Mihaela Bodlovic.
It’s more of an ensemble piece than a one-woman show, however; Gallagher’s grieving daughter and Hodgson’s Amy, desperately trying to keep the peace, are finely drawn. The bantering Colin is backed up by a couple of other effective comedy cameos from Orr.
Sally Reid, meanwhile, plays charity shop manager Lizzie with a presence and comic knowhow equal to Smith’s. The scenes where the two of them spark off each other are a delight.
And possibly there should be more of them, because despite the performances and some lovely writing there’s an odd flatness to some of this. Having set up what appears to be a bleakly funny premise, it doesn’t do that much with it. It all comes across as a bit sitcomish; more to the point, like one episode of a sitcom where much has gone before and much remains to come. Some of the backstory goes weirdly unexplained, and the emotional content of the narrative is underdeveloped.
pacing issues
This is also one of those productions where having the writer also directing is not necessarily a plus. There are pacing issues, with furniture being moved on and off Kenny Miller’s imposing set too often and for too long. This creates discrete environments (a funeral parlour, Cathy’s home, a charity shop) but does slow things down.
Weirdly for a play in a sweltering August Traverse, it’s largely set in December, with people dressed up as puddings and swathes of tinsel. Whether it would be more at home as a festive entertainment is up for debate, as the content (aside from an ending that has a bolted-on feeling) doesn’t necessarily scream Christmas.
There is a great deal to admire here (not least Smith’s performance of the sharp, complicated Cathy) but as a production it never quite lives up to its promise.
Running time: One hour 10 minutes (no interval).
Traverse Theatre (Traverse 1), 10 Cambridge St, EH1 2ED. (Venue 15).
Friday 7 – Sunday 30 August 2026.
Various times (see website for details).
Tickets and details: Book here at EdFringe.com.
Tickets direct from venue: Book here.
Traverse website: www.traverse.co.uk/
Facebook: @TraverseTheatre
Instagram: @traversetheatre
Linktree: @traversetheatre.
Sally Reid, Elaine C Smith and Chloe Hodgson. Pic: Mihaela Bodlovic.
ENDS
