Cathy @ Traverse Theatre
Eilidh Loan's social comedy, marking Elaine C. Smith's return to the Scottish stage, is a pleasing study of loss
Following her acerbic and observational Moorcroft, writer-director Eilidh Loan makes her return with Cathy, a brand new family play about navigating grief and loss. Elaine C. Smith portrays the titular role, an ageing woman whose husband has recently passed, and whose relationship with her daughter veers towards collapse as her mental state faces decline. Family bonds face compromise as questions of grief – specifically, whose grief gets to be prioritised – and past tensions rise to the surface.
It is now well-publicised that Loan’s real-life grandmother is the main inspiration for Cathy, and that it was her request that Smith portrayed her. There really is no better actor to take on this newly-widowed, stoical and sharp-tongued woman than Smith. Her delivery has a Chekhovian capacity to command laughs and tears in equal measure, at the exact same time, depending entirely on the audience member. Special mention should also go to Sally Reid’s heartfelt and chaotic performance of Lizzie, a pitch-perfect and layered character whose mentality nicely balances Cathy’s downbeat disposition, leading to a reveal which feels surprising and inevitable at once and ultimately proves to be the most moving moment of the play.
That said, while the production largely balances comedy and tragedy, the central dramatic conflicts feel quietly undermined by the play’s keen focus on the messy mechanics of a fun family dynamic. Rather than elevate into the realm of a family drama with tangible and biting stakes, as the play’s set-up seems to pledge, it floats in the safe zone between the two and falls back on the admittedly snappy and enjoyable punchlines which initially draw us into the play’s world. In the dramatic arena, Cathy could have gone further. But there is so much to praise in the writing, the performances and Kenny Miller's scenic design which transports us seamlessly between several locations; textured, economical, and a true feast for the eye.
Cathy, Traverse Theatre (Traverse 1), until 30 Aug (not Mon), various times