For Edinburgh residents, one of the biggest thrills of festival season is the influx of international talent that washes up on our doorstep for an entire month. With that being said, it’s also true that a focus on Scottish talent can be lost in the chaos of the Fringe. The Traverse Theatre and its focus on new Scottish writing is a welcome incubator for local rising stars, allowing them to showcase their work in front of a captive international audience and reach beyond their established fanbase.
With her sophomore play Cathy, actor, director and playwright Eilidh Loan is one the programmed Scottish artists at TravFest 2026. Her critically acclaimed debut Moorcroft, which enjoyed a sold-out run and went on tour with the National Theatre of Scotland, was inspired by her dad’s amateur football team based in Renfrew. Her newest play, which continues the witty yet sentimental, melancholy tone of Moorcroft is similarly inspired by the chronicles of a close family member: Loan’s grandmother. A strict “rule-setter” and staunch Catholic woman from Glasgow, the titular role is played by Scottish comedic acting royalty, Elaine C. Smith. Smith has been a household name since coming to widespread attention through beloved 90s sitcom Rab C. Nesbitt.
“I saw Moorcroft, and I thought it was a wonderful piece of writing saying something profound and accurate about working-class life, which has been ignored a great deal of time,” recalls Smith over a group video call, with Loan blushing through the screen. ‘I was on my feet at the end of it.”
After the show, a mutual friend mentioned to Smith that Loan was writing a new play inspired by her grandmother. “She said ‘I want Elaine C. Smith.’ I thought, she’s obviously got no taste whatsoever!”
Swallowing her laughter, Loan finally chimes in. “It’s really a full circle moment. I grew up watching Elaine, somebody like me, who spoke like me, who was from a similar community to me, do the thing every girl in Glasgow dreamed of. Elaine has dug out those paths for us. But it’s still a struggle for young working-class women like myself to get these kinds of opportunities.”
Based on true events, the story begins after the passing of Cathy’s husband Tommy and follows her immediate family as they navigate that loss in their own unique ways. “It’s brilliant to have a family that is so full of crazy characters, they’re all hilarious people,” attests Loan. “Tommy was the figurehead of our family. We’re very full of life but obviously at that time we were going through a lot of grief. The way that we express ourselves as a working-class family is the big gestures, we’re all talking over each other at the dinner table and that in itself is theatrical.”
This image inspired the opening scene of the play, which sees its five-member ensemble (with the addition of Michele Gallagher, Chloe Hodgson, Alan Orr and Sally Reid) gathered around for a family dinner discussing Cathy’s first Christmas as a widow. “Through writing Cathy, there were lots of things that came up that I hadn’t quite dealt with myself yet,” admits Loan. “Losing a grandparent, watching somebody lose a parent and their husband. It started to become a real cathartic experience.”
Cathy has three generations of women at its centre, inspired by Loan, her mother and the real-life Cathy. “Me, my mum and my gran, we’re all so similar so sometimes we clash. Tommy was amazing at diffusing those arguments. But I wanted to give the formidable women in my family that platform to be ugly. At points we don’t really know if we’re on their side, or we agree with what they’re saying, but amongst all of that is humour. That’s how we deal with it.”
Who better, then, to hold these heavy themes with a light comedic touch than Smith? “The trick of comedy is making it look easy. The trick of drama is making it look hard, even when it’s not,” she jokes. “What I love about Cathy is that it’s very funny at times but it’s also incredibly moving. [Loan] is writing lines that a lot of actors would die to say. In this, and in something like Two Doors Down [the sitcom in which Smith starred for seven series, with an upcoming eighth season commissioned], it’s remarkable I’m allowed to be that which women over 60 aren’t allowed to be: a clown.”
From chieftain to jester, how does the real Cathy feel about being the centre of this new play? “She was absolutely delighted!” Loan vouches. “She’s been a very active role in my life, for the good and the bad, and I think she knows and understands the sort of power that storytelling and theatre can have. But also, while the characters are certainly inspired by real people, working with actors like Elaine, you start to pull out elements that aren’t true to life. As a writer you’re looking after the ensemble. As an actor, you’re looking after your role, and you get to know that role even better than the writer does.”
At the time of this interview, this intergenerational collaboration is still finding its final form ahead of August’s debut. “It could be a fucking disaster,” laughs Smith, with a confidence that assures it definitely won’t be. Weeks have since passed, and the play has opened to critical and audience acclaim, cementing Loan as a writer with a deftness for moving family drama/comedies and a knack for getting the most out of her actors. “It’s a great cast, a wonderful writer. And she’s a young working-class woman. That’s all very important to me.”
Cathy, Traverse Theatre, until 30 Aug, various times