Catherine Bohart: Borrowing Trouble | Soho Theatre

Catherine Bohart is one of those comedians who makes it feel like you’re simply sitting down with a very funny friend who has an endless supply of ridiculous stories. Borrowing Trouble at the Soho Theatre is hilarious from start to finish and whilst Catherine talks very fast, it somehow feels like exactly the right pace for a comedy show. There’s so much packed into the hour that the jokes just keep coming and the speed adds to the energy, without ever feeling like you’re missing out.

The show draws on so many parts of her life; her Catholic upbringing, being a lesbian, OCD, relationships, family, weddings and all the wonderfully chaotic situations that seem to happen when those things collide. What makes it work so well is that none of it feels like a forced comedy routine. She has this brilliant ability to tell stories that could almost be completely ordinary but finds the ridiculousness in them and makes them absolutely hilarious.

The title, Borrowing Trouble, comes from something her dad used to say to her all the time: don’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet. It’s advice she admits is probably very good advice, while also acknowledging that she really wishes she was better at following it herself. That idea runs through the show in a really relatable way, especially when you hear about all the things she manages to worry about.

There are loads of brilliant stories throughout. A favourite involves the story about her and her girlfriend moving into a flat next door to three lesbians who were in a throuple, which already sounds like the setup to a sitcom, only for Catherine’s mum to become interested in whether the three of them could get a mortgage together.

The lesbian wedding stories are also fantastic, including a particularly memorable mishap at her sister’s wedding and the increasingly surreal world of couples asking for IVF donations as wedding gifts. It sounds completely bizarre written down, but Catherine tells these stories so naturally that you almost forget how ridiculous they are until you realise you’re crying with laughter.

And that’s probably the most enjoyable thing about the show. There isn’t a feeling that she needs to manufacture huge comedy moments every few minutes. It’s more like being told a series of completely believable life stories by someone with an exceptional sense of humour and timing. She takes family anecdotes, awkward situations, relationships and everyday worries and somehow turns them into really clever, genuinely funny comedy.

There’s also something very warm and likeable about her storytelling. Even when she’s talking about anxiety, OCD or the more chaotic parts of life, it never feels heavy for long. She finds the humour without losing the humanity of the stories.

Whilst you may expect a funny stand up show, instead you come out feeling like you'd spent an hour listening to someone tell the most entertaining collection of stories imaginable. Fast, clever, chaotic, incredibly relatable and consistently hilarious.

Catherine Bohart: Borrowing Trouble plays at the Soho Theatre until Saturday 03rd October - tickets and more information can be found here.

★★★★★ (5*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Jonny Ruff