Anna Burnside reviews a missed opportunity with a ‘masterful’ lead performance.
Tommy, a Chinese takeaway loving Glaswegian protestant, has died. His widow, the Cathy of the title, is not taking this well. A mouthy Glaswegian catholic, she handles grief by smoking heavily and falling out with the rest of her family.
As the intergenerational soap opera escalates - there’s a grandchild due any day and a threatened boycott of the family Christmas - Cathy’s unexpected role volunteering in a charity shop becomes her route to redemption.
Writer-director Eilidh Loan based Cathy on her own grandmother. Elaine C. Smith was gran’s actor of choice, and Smith is masterful in the role. Her disdain at her granddaughter’s gift of a weighted blanket, her enmity towards The Chase presenter Bradley Walsh and his beady eyes, her knowledge of the musicals of the 1950s, are sharply written and immaculately delivered.
It’s not a one woman show. Sally Reid, warm and lovely as the jangly bead-wearing charity shop manager, is the rose quartz to Smith’s black flint. Panto veteran Alan Orr does a great turn as the son-in-law, a man who knows his place in a council house matriarchy.
The structure of Cathy owes much to The Steamie: three generations of working-class Scottish women, all products of their times. The Steamie is set on Hogmanay. In Cathy, the approach of Christmas and a pregnant granddaughter put a deadline in the dramatic arc.
A twinkly ending takes the show in a festive, feelgood direction which would work better in December than August. Cathy has all the elements of an enduring popular hit and is surely destined for a life beyond the Traverse. But The Steamie already exists and is still going strong. This opportunity to go harder and darker has been missed.
Cathy is part of the Traverse Theatre’s Travfest 26 and performs until 30 August 2026. For further details, go to the theatre’s website.
RSS