Catherine Bohart has just begun a tour of her new show Borrowing Trouble. I had the delightful experience of seeing a performance of the work-in-progress of the show at this year’s Fringe, finding it to be exciting, amusing, and promising. Bohart’s experience living with OCD is a key theme throughout the show. In a world where most people don’t fully understand OCD — but as she notes, “nobody’s calling it our superpower”— her perspective is insightful, entertaining, and refreshing.
Bohart shares her controversial and comical opinions on a range of topics: if we just know enough about women’s bodies already, IVF funding as a replacement for a wedding registry, and much more.
Her performance is vulnerable in a manner that allows her to hilariously poke fun at absurd realities and experiences, but she does not divulge too much or veer into disclosing too uncomfortable and intimate of details.
Bohart is a thoroughly authentic and open comedian, who in her words “treats comedy like therapy.” Her stand-up consists of amusing tales, with supplementary material on the roles her Irishness, Catholic upbringing, parental influence, and OCD play in shaping her choices in these stories. The audience is treated to delightful tales ranging from her navigating buying a flat with her girlfriend, to the extremes of her father’s constant busyness—including how this never-ending active state saw him getting an impromptu haircut between starters and mains at a family meal. All of which are told with excellent comedic timing and a genial conversational tone.
Overall, Catherine Bohart does a wonderful job at “being in charge of the fun.” and having seen the final night of the work-in-progress, I can highly recommend getting tickets to her tour of Borrowing Trouble.
Borrowing Trouble is playing at Assembly Roxy on 12 November. Buy Tickets here
Image by Johnny Ruff provided to The Student by Soho Theatre.
