Catherine Bohart's new standup hour, Borrowing Trouble, at Soho Theatre in London, delves deep into her OCD with rich, hard-won humour. The Irish standup's trademark candour is the justification for addressing a condition so all-consuming that not to address it might feel like dishonesty, which, for the 38-year-old, would be intolerably off-brand.
Buying a first home and moving in together
In this latest bulletin from Bohart's fraught life, she fulfils an ambition close to all Irish hearts, she tells us, by buying her first home. This entails moving in with her girlfriend too, a process that applies pressure on her compulsion to control. But what's a girl to do? Move on to her fifth therapist, after the underachievement of the preceding four? Try coming off antidepressants? Her doctor's response to that suggestion does not inspire confidence. Seek refuge with her family? That won't work, as illustrated by an ill-advisedly long visit home to her parents – AKA her symptoms.
Family behaviours and an uptight stage persona
Here we see mum fret intrusively on Catherine's behalf and, in one eye-opening anecdote, dad display the type of behaviours that might suggest obsessive compulsions run in the family. All this comes at us in a torrent from the irrepressible Bohart, who channels real-world neurosis into a wonderfully uptight and oversharing stage persona.
Her dismay at her own foibles is matched only by alarm at the inexplicable conduct of others – see her routine about disliking lesbian weddings, or the later one in which it dawns on her that her girlfriend's masculine stylings are underpinned by no practical domestic skills whatsoever. Then there's the section on women's health, which argues, amusingly contrary to the received wisdom, that we all need to know and hear a lot less about it.
Captivatingly funny despite tormenting afflictions
You might think the same of comedians' neurological disorders; Bohart certainly does. But Borrowing Trouble proves that, in the right hands, even the most tormenting of mental afflictions can be captivatingly funny. At Soho Theatre, London, until 3 October; then touring.
