Water Colour review: Elegant two-hander on depression
SkimNews Take
Two parallel trajectories on stage invite comparison rather than identification, shifting the emotional contract from empathy through recognition to understanding through pattern.
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- Water Colour, a two-hander by playwright Milly Sweeney, won best new play at the 2026 Cats awards and runs at the Traverse theatre, Edinburgh until 30 August.
- The play is a joint venture by the Byre theatre, Pitlochry Festival theatre and the Traverse, directed by Sally Reid in a production praised for its elegant 'figure of eight' structure.
- Esme (Molly Geddes), an isolated student at Glasgow School of Art, and Harris (Ryan J Mackay), a kitchen porter at a Michelin-star restaurant, are strangers whose independent stories of depression cross at a critical moment of mutual aid.
- Actors Geddes and Mackay narrate each other's stories, with Geddes playing Harris's tyrannical head chef and Mackay playing Esme's opinionated tutor.
- The play sensitively traces how everyday pressures — completing an art degree show, starting a new job — can compound into depression and suicidal thoughts, leavened by humour and role-reversal.
Why it matters: The 2026 Cats win and a high-profile Traverse co-production give Sweeney, a young playwright, a platform for a structurally ambitious take on depression that resists heavy-handedness. For the producing theatres, the shared staging model spreads risk while extending the play's reach beyond a single venue's audience.
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