Water Colour
★★★★☆ Impressive
Traverse (Venue 15): Thurs 6 – Sun 30 Aug 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson
Water Colour by Milly Sweeney at the Traverse is a remarkably cogent and compelling production.
Presented by the Byre Theatre St Andrews in association with Pitlochry Festival Theatre and the Traverse, the play has been garlanded with much praise and it is easy to see why.
Ryan J Mackay with Molly Geddes in Water Colour by Milly Sweeney. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Student Esme (Molly Geddes) is worn down by impostor syndrome and an inability to make personal connections. Restaurant worker Harris (Ryan J Mackay) is trying to make his way in an industry that sees him more as a ‘human dishwasher’ than anything else. Their separate stories intersect at a moment on a bridge across the Clyde in Glasgow that has huge significance for both of them.
It seems redundant to heap praise on a play that has already achieved so much (not least the Best New Play prize at this year’s CATS awards). Suffice it to say that it is a beautifully sharp evocation of class prejudice, loneliness, connection and longing whose depictions of mental health issues are subtle and poetic.
The characters, (including the various others played with real energy by Geddes and Adams) are marvellously and evocatively drawn, and the whole thing is wonderfully involving.
a remarkable piece of writing
There is the occasional hint of a schematic approach to the narrative that makes it a shade too convenient, which could also be said of some of the metaphors, while the mention of the rebuilding of the Glasgow School of Art has been given a darker slant by recent suggestions that it might not happen.
Nevertheless, it’s a remarkable piece of writing, enhanced by the performances and the kinetic, dynamic direction of Sally Reid, which gives the production a glorious flow. Steve Lauder-Russell’s movement direction also demands high praise.
Molly Geddes and Ryan J Mackay in Water Colour by Milly Sweeney. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Natalie Fern’s tremendous set achieves so much with comparatively little, with the central bridge and railings creating different acting spaces wonderfully. The lighting of Adam Bowers and Ross Brown’s sound design are similarly versatile, adding to the play’s shifts in mood and texture.
Geddes is compelling as Esme, lending real weight to the character’s struggles just as she provides comic relief to Harris’s flatmate or boss. Mackay is just as impressive, with the depths of the apparent Jack-the-lad Harris evoked with the utmost sympathy, and Esme’s mother, a professor and a therapist also portrayed with wit and range.
It is inadequate to say that there is great potential in Sweeney’s writing; this is already a highly impressive finished article, and a very strong production.
Running time: One hour and 20 minutes (no interval).
Traverse (Traverse 2), 10 Cambridge St, EH1 2ED (Venue 15).
Thursday 6 – Sunday 30 August 2026.
Mon – Sun: 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.
ENDS
