Cathy

Cathy is a show about death and belonging, centred on a newly widowed woman and a family processing the death of their husband, father and grandfather in very different ways. At its heart it is a story about women banding together: the same loss and trauma that tears them apart ultimately becomes what brings them back together.

The tone is expertly judged, sitting somewhere between farce and elegance while still allowing the grief to land. It is moving and genuinely tear-jerking at times, but it never collapses into sentimentality. Religion, death and new life all come to the centre of the piece, culminating in a convincing and shocking live birth on stage, which is not something many family dramas can claim. The set itself makes death ever-present, with a set of curtains you might find in a chapel of rest adorning the rear wall.

The acting is incredible. Elaine C Smith is particularly good, balancing the comic abrasiveness of Cathy with the grief underneath it, but the whole cast is excellent. The family relationships feel lived-in, which makes the movement between comedy and tragedy feel completely natural.

The production is similarly assured, moving between Cathy's home and the charity shop without making a great deal of fuss about it. Everything feels very controlled, allowing the writing and performances to do the work.

What more could you want? Excellent.

Cathy by Traverse Theatre Company.