Catherine Bohart, Soho Theatre review - anatomy of a break-up

Catherine Bohart had a more eventful lockdown than most, as it marked the end of a five-year relationship and what she describes as a sort of breakdown followed. To add insult to injury, the break-up came not along after she and her girlfriend, fellow comic Sarah Keyworth (whom she doesn't name in the hour), had launched You'll Do, a podcast about – you've guessed – love and relationships.

This Isn't For You describes the pain of that time, but Bohart is such a positive presence, and lands the gags so well, that it's rarely downbeat. It is, however, occasionally reflective as she questions whether she should even be doing a show about someone who isn't in the room to object, and how the very real pain of being dumped for the first time in her life caused a moment of crisis.

Bohart is endearingly honest about her emotional shortcomings – she's an annoying mix of bold and needy – and speaks of how her existing OCD was made worse by both break-up and lockdown. She's aware of the self-help clichés in some of what she describes, including the idea, as her friends suggested, that this was actually an amazing opportunity as she unexpectedly regained singleton status. As Bohart wryly points out, that last time she was single “Ellen [DeGeneres] was a good lesbian”.

She digs down into the annoying admin of breaking up – not least changing a broadband contract, having to do her own DIY and divvying up their friends – and readying herself to get in the dating pool again by going for laser hair removal. She also memorably recounts going home to Ireland to recuperate, only to find her mother upset because in Keyworth she had lost her “favourite child”.

Bohart says she has rewritten parts of this show to make it less raw and there are occasional moments when it has the feel of a show still evolving, but the laugh count is high.

• Catherine Bohart is touring until 5 June

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