One Day All This Will Come to Nothing is the long awaited debut work from Catherine Grosvenor, premiered at the Traverse, the Edinburgh powerhouse for new writing. One Day… is the story of both Anna (Molly Innes), a young police officer and Paul (Michael Nardone), a bar owner.

This play is about the emptiness of losing another and the attempts made to fill that space. Anna's boyfriend has gone missing days before the piece begins; she waits, she works, and spends what seems to be an eternity with his parents Harriet and Martin, (Anne Lacey and Sean Scanlan), using them for company and comfort as they use her. Paul rescues the young suicidal Adam (Mark Wood) from himself, recreating him as a replacement for the mysterious Michael. What tie Paul and Anna together is their experiences of loss and their inability to move on from them.

For a first time playwright this is an admirable piece that deals with a heavyweight theme, Grosvenor melancholically creates the sense of nothingness that prevails throughout the course of the play and culminates in a meaningful, poetic dialogue between the two protagonists.

The real beauty of this production lies in the characterisations presented by a splendid cast: Innes as the hard faced police woman; Nardone, the intense and slightly unhinged publican working and wooing the young Adam; James Cunningham as a selection of missing people presents his characters with conviction and ferocity while Lacey and Scanlan have created a subtly believable couple that crave both sympathy and the odd titter from their audience.

One Day All This Will Come to Nothing is a touching and insightful piece of theatre that begs both praise and compassion. Enjoy.