Elaine C Smith anchors Eilidh Loan's 'Cathy' at Traverse
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- Eilidh Loan wrote "Cathy," her second play after male-centred debut "Moorcroft," inspired this time by her grandmother who insisted the title role go to Elaine C Smith
- Elaine C Smith plays Cathy, a newly widowed working-class woman whose grief is veering toward depression, landing Loan's acerbic jokes with what the review calls battle-hardened precision
- The action unfolds in the aftermath of husband Tommy's funeral and centres on mother-daughter friction between Cathy and Flo (Michele Gallagher), alongside Flo's Protestant husband Colin (Alan Orr) and pregnant granddaughter Amy (Chloe Hodgson)
- Kenny Miller designed a two-location set shifting between Cathy's front room and a charity shop where Amy's colleague Lizzie (Sally Reid) — also bereaved — helps push the story toward its Christmas resolution
- The reviewer praises the social comedy as snappily observed but judges it "dramatically underpowered," noting the only stake is family cordiality and the play "covers limited emotional ground"
- Cathy runs at Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until 30 August
Why it matters: The review positions Loan as a playwright tracking generational shifts in working-class family drama — from her father's football team in "Moorcroft" to her grandmother's widowhood here — while flagging that the script's emotional stakes don't quite match the strength of Smith's central performance.
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