Darkly comedic rise and fall story, My Name is Cathy, which follows a teacher who had it all as she looks back on how it slipped away, comes to the Chapel Playhouse next month as part of the Camden Fringe. Time to book your tickets!
Andrew Sharpe‘s play, which is staged by KatAlyst Productions, runs at the King’s Cross venue from 16 to 18 August 2019.
As Cathy celebrates her 50th birthday alone, she recalls events of the past 15 years. We meet her younger self, who has it all – perfect family and successful career – but tends to confuse rudeness with efficiency and is already on borrowed time. The bank of life forecloses and her world unravels, as her once perfect personal life and glittering career are put in jeopardy by poor life choices, farcical situations and no-win deals created with casual indifference by the men in her life.
Cathy’s unravelling is honest and painful to witness as she is crushed by those that she held the closest, ignoring her heroic endeavour and promulgating the brutal fallacy of a woman out of her depth, a bad mother and worse teacher.
Ultimately life affirming and triumphant Cathy, a fallen superwoman faces down her demons as she confronts her worst enemies in this terrifying, honest and hilarious absurdist farce for our time.
My Name Is Cathy cast
Cathy is played by both Kat-Anne Rogers (as the older Cathy) and Sally Paffett (younger Cathy), while Edwin Flay takes all the male roles.
Rogers works regularly with Ovo Theatre, appearing in Much Ado About Nothing, Splendour and Playhouse Creatures. For her company, KatAlyst Productions, she has appeared in The House, The Brighton Killers and Character.
Paffett, who won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the 2016 Madrid Film Festival, previously appeared alongside Rogers in The House, while Fray reunites with Rogers after co-starring in The Brighton Killers.
Velenzia Spearpoint
My Name is Cathy is directed by Velenzia Spearpoint, Artistic Director of the Chapel Playhouse’s sister venue Bread and Roses Theatre. Spearpoint, who also co-founded all-female theatre company Get Over It Productions, previously directed productions including The Balcony and dirty butterfly at the Bread and Roses Theatre and Macbeth at The Roundhouse.
This year’s Camden Fringe features an eclectic line-up of 300 different productions. Joining My Name is Cathy in the London fringe festival are productions including Kafka adaptation Red Peter, spy comedy Agent 14, tale of ambition The Last King of Porn and story about social media and adultery, Letting Go.
Full festival programme
For details on all 300+ shows in the 2019 Camden Fringe programme, visit the festival website
Click here
