Xhloe and Natasha are the multi-award-winning duo behind several of the Fringe’s biggest hits over the last few years. This year, their sold-out show Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In Half I Saw It is already something of a phenomenon, and will be transferring to London in September.
The premise is relatively simple. To get out of trouble, two teenagers fake Bigfoot sightings around their superstitious, rural Appalachian community. The credulous townsfolk believe the stories a little too readily, and suddenly matters are running wildly out of control. Is there any way to put Bigfoot back in the bottle?
Combining clowning, physical theatre and sharp character work with puppetry and a raucous soundtrack, Xhloe and Natasha provide an exhausting, immersive hour. They create a small-town fever dream populated by gossiping home-makers, bored teenagers and shotgun-toting geriatrics. The play passes in a kaleidoscopic blur, much of it bouncing along somewhat improbably – but surprisingly effectively – to the Spice Girls.
Xhloe and Natasha’s physicality conjures the Appalachian setting before our eyes, creating garages and gas stations and the terrifying, pounding presence of Bigfoot itself, but they by no means rely solely on their physical skills. Their inhabitation of the multitude of characters populating their small town is never less than pin-sharp, each one carefully delineated and instantly recognisable. Their blank, white-painted faces transform in an instant with a vacuous smile, a trembling frown, a scream.
While the production is in full swing, it is a little hard to think about anything other than the incredibly skilfully channelled and delivered riot of colour, noise and sheer, unbridled energy taking place on stage. However, with time to reflect Bigfoot reveals itself to be a more thoughtful and incisive piece than it first appears at face value.
Why are the townsfolk so credulous? What is the real story of the cataclysmic flood that seems to have denuded the town and left the water undrinkable? Who is the shadowy government agency issuing bland statements that seem supportive but reek of institutional neglect? Bigfoot subtly conceals a dark and serious underbelly, examining scapegoats, conspiracy, mass hysteria, environmental collapse and communities left behind by our not fit for purpose political systems.
Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In Half I Saw It is more than just a thumping good time. Like all the best creature features, it holds up a mirror and asks: while we’re all off looking for a nine-foot beast in the woods – where are the real monsters?
Performed at Summerhall on Sunday 09 August as part of the Edinburgh Fringe
6 – 30 Aug (not 18 & 25), 21:10 – 22:10
Running time: 1 hour, no interval
Written and performed by Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland
Directed with Tom Costello
Lighting Designer: Angelo Sagnelli